The Alternate Squad
by fantasy shadow
Summary: This story is about an alternate squad of exorcists. It follows the basic plot line of D.Grey-man, only with a different group, though they are often accompanied by the real characters. A lot of Oc- real character pairings.
1. A Newly Born Innocence

The train rattled loudly as it forced it self forward, launching into motion. The bags where pilled up high on the other side of the seat and they swayed threateningly. Eas put her hand lightly on the top of the luggage to ensure it wouldn't topple over.

"So after this train ride we'll be there, right? Mack complained, his head resting on the far window of their little department. He was known for being short tempered, and they had been traveling for a while. "Yeah." Tyki assured him, taking a long drag on his cigarette, and then blowing the fumes out the window. "You're gonna die from smoking so much." Mack grunted. Tyki just smiled. His face was composed, but through the years, Eas was able to notice a small twinkle from behind his glasses, as if he knew something funny that no one else did. A short, raspy sound echoed through the cabin suddenly, as Eas tried to suppress the cough that was pressing to get out. "There gonna be a hotel there?" Will asked, nodding in Eas's direction. "Yeah, there's one near the mine. We'll drop her off there." Through the mask, Eas frowned disapprovingly. Though she was small, she proved helpful throughout the last places they had worked at, either helping in the kitchen at the local farms or caring after the kids of the boss's. When they where in-between jobs, she had even learned the skill of pick-pocketing. She had sharpened that skill to perfection, even having techniques for different types of people. Though with this job, she knew she'd be no help at all. Mining. Her small figure was still waiting for a growth spurt, and the fact she was a girl, though this was hardly known due to her attire and company, she would have a hard time getting a job. The train swayed as it passed a bend and Eas began to drift into a day dream. Not long after this had begun, however, she was interrupted by the department's door opening. A large man with black hair and white bangs stepped inside the cabin. Eas's eyes widened as the light from the windows hit his face. It reminded her greatly of a vampire. He looked around as she slid farther into her seat, afraid of the new comer. She had read about vampires, and she really didn't want to become his next meal. To her dismay, he caught sight of the gaping Tyki, slightly stunned by his appearance. The large "man" Opened his mouth, his strong jaw bearing sharp gleaming teeth, and began;

"OH!" He exclaimed, jumping back. "I'm sorry, is this a private freight? I didn't mean to intrude!" A single tear welled up in the terrified vampire's eye. Eas nearly burst into laughter, holding herself at the seams and sinking further into the seat as she tried to keep her breathing even. That was certainly NOT what she was expecting. Tyki returned to himself quickly, lighting another smoke and throwing the blackened bud out the window.

"Now that you mention it, you where interrupting." He started. Tears began welling up in the vampire's eyes and Eas had to cover her mask to keep the laughter from escaping.

"But I have a way for you to make it up to us." Tyki assured him, smiling brightly. This was his sucker face. He was very good at wringing people into his trap. The vampire nodded furiously, the tears spilling over his dark eyes. Tyki smiled approvingly.

"How' bout we play a game of poker?" He dug into his pocket and came back with a deck of black and white checkerd cards.

"I don't know how to play." The vampire admitted, sadly. He seamed to be a roller coaster of moods, mostly depression.

"Don't worry, I'll teach you!" Tyki returned his depressed glance with a reassuring smile.

The train blew black clouds of steam through its pipe and down the long narrow compartments. Eas's eyes watched it as it fluttered and billowed in the wind like a black butterfly. It had been a while since Tyki had introduced poker to the vampire, and now he was left cloth less, except for his red and yellow polka dotted underwear. Eas had long since lost interest in the petty game. This was nothing but a bunch of cheaters sharpening their techniques on a newbie. Their was nothing interesting about it, that was, until the door yet again screeched open. There, standing in the passageway was two teenage-looking boys, one with snow white hair and a red pentagon of his face, and the other with spiky long red hair and an eye patch. They looked down at the vampire with surprised eyes. "KROWLEY?" They exclaimed, astonished at his attire. The vampire, now known as Krowley wiped some of the tears and snot away from his face and onto his shivering, bear arm.

"Sorry fellas, young ones aren't aloud to enter this place right now." Tyki smiled up at them. Mack looked over at Krowley sternly,

"Oi, Oi. Don't scamper off!" "You accepted this battle, if you're a man, you'll fight to the very end." Tyki added, waving his finger. Suddenly a black coat with many glittering ornaments hung in front of Tyki's face.

"All of the ornaments on this coat are made of silver. How about I play against you with this, and all of Crowley's cloths as my bet." The white boy challenged. The red-heads face lit up in surprise.

"Oi, Allen, what are you saying?" But Tyki had already accepted the bet. He chuckled darkly as he agreed. "Alright."

The game was incredible. They only expected a naive kid, but what they got was a pro. With every great hand the gang put down, Allen would match it. It wasn't long before the situation was completely turned around. Eas stared in astonishment along with the other two of his group as he announced yet another royal straight flush. The three guys cried out in exasperation. They called a short meeting as they discussed the kid's supernatural ability's.

"What the hells going on? He should have been getting crappy cards!" Mack whispered ferociously. "Were being suckered?" Tyki assisted. Even will was on edge. "He's a master hand!" They concluded. Allen's face showed nothing but satisfaction, as if he had been teaching a lesson to some naughty children.

"Damnit! One more round!" The three bellowed, obviously missing how doomed they were. Sure enough, not even a minute later, Allen announced "Call." And they where done, having nothing left to surrender but their boxers in which the new comer had spared them.

_They even bet my teddy._ Eas thought distastefully as she stared at the beat up teddy bear strapped to one of the bags. _I'll kill those guys later for that!_

The announcer came over the intercom, clearing his throat loudly to get the passengers attention, and then reading the next stop on the list. They where reaching their destination.

Beaten, Tyki and the others bowed out and headed into the passage way to catch the already busy doorway of people waiting for the station. As the trains whistle blew, and they where finally off the plat form and back into the freezing cold, Allen stuck his head out the window. He pulled out all the baggage the Guys had lost and offered it to them. "Here, it's enough that I got my friends things back, it'll be painful being nude this time of year, right?" He grinned down on them.

"Boy," Tyki smiled half-heartedly, "We won't fall so low as to accept pity when we lose." The statement was false as their hands where gripping onto their possessions dearly. Eas sighed, distastefully. After they had dressed, Tyki sighed, happy for the warmth of his clothes again.

"Man, you saved us!" He continued, "In truth, were going to start work today in an ore mind nearby." "Where did you come from?" Allen asked. "Everywhere!" Tyki sang. "Were a wandering band of light-fingered orphans!" This was true. Each of them met up at their own times, wandering around, homeless and down on their luck. Eas looked up at Allen thankfully. He had really saved the idiots butts and she wanted a way to show her thanks. She dug into her pocket and searched around for something to give him. The only thing she could find, however, was the silver button in which Tyki had given her when he came back from one of her missions. It was one of her most precious possessions, not that she had many, anyways. But their was nothing else in her pocket, so she pulled it out, the button round and friendly in her hand, and held it out to the boy. He looked at her questioningly, confused by the gesture.

"Our thanks." She reassured him in her small voice.

"Eas! That things you're treasure!" Tyki insisted. "Wait, Wait, I'll give something else as thanks." He began searching through his large pockets for something to give him.

"It's ok, you don't have to." The boy waved as the train lurched into motion. Tyki's eyes lit up as he found something. He chucked it at Allen, with a satisfied "There."

Allen caught it and looked at the deck that was in his hands. It was the same deck they had played with on the train.

"I hope things are cool between us then." Tyki called out to him as a final gesture. Allen smiled back as the train passed through a tunnel.

Eas looked at the button in her hand as a large hand patted her on the head.

"Keep a tight hold on that thing, Eas. I went through a lot of trouble to get that important silver for you." Yes, important indeed. Since Eas had joined the group, she had been after one person. This person was what she thought as her father's killer. An old man with an odd uniform. She had been searching for him ever since he took the last of her family away.

Eas's mind drifted back to reality when she heard a loud bringing noise. It was a phone nearby. Tyki reached it first, and as multiple times before, it was a new one of his mysterious jobs. Out of all the jobs they had done, Tyki's was the most secret, not one of them but Tyki knew what it was, and as soon as he got the call, he was gone, only to show up again some time later, when they had continued on their journey. No one even had a clue what it could be, except Eas. Since she had joined the group, she always kept a look out for the murderer. She wasn't very interested in much, so when she took so much devotion into finding him, the group took notice. Finally, after one of his last trips, he came back with a silver button on a thin string of leather.

_Keep this._ He had said, giving the shiny button to her._ I know you were looking to do it yourself, but I couldn't have you sully your hands with scum._ Eas had read the inscription on the inside of the button and instantly understood what he was saying. He had killed her father's murderer and was giving her his button as proof.

Tyki was leaving; he was already spreading the bad news to the guys, Mack blowing up over it. Eas looked over to Tyki, a distant expression on her face.

"Tyki…Bring back more silver, ok?" He smiled his secret smile as they turned in the direction of the hotel, leaving him be.

The hotel wasn't anything special, a small inn with two stories. The room they checked into had two beds, which was fine, since Tyki barely joined them in the hotels, and she was still considered a kid. They laid their stuff down on the beds as they started to unpack. They expected to be there for a while. A mining job wasn't one to just work at for a couple of days and leave, besides, Tyki was on another job, and it was always tiring trying to connect up with him again. Eas rested on the bed while Mack and Will went down to win some food. Her cough acted up again and she curled up into a ball to hold her rattling chest in-tact. It had been a while since it had acted up, all the moving around had brought it back. After she was settled again, she took out her stuffed bear, all tattered and torn. She held it to her as she curl up in the bed. The coughing came again, slowly, and wasn't as rattling, but it was still annoying. She sighed, feeling the effects of the fit.

_Man, I wish there was a way to get the medicine I need without being a burden. That stuff was so expensive; it nearly put aunt aggie into bankruptcy. _

As she squeezed her teddy, it began to glow, engulfing itself completely in a strange aura. Eas jumped back, surprised. The Teddy, which had been dropped to the floor, began moving. First the head, then the mangled arms, and finally the stuffed legs, until it was no longer sprawled as it should have been, but standing up, looking at Eas. She let out a gasp, shrinking farther away from it. The bear began climbing the blankets, as if it where a miniature version of the real thing. As it struggled onto the top of the bed, it dusted itself off, and held out its paw.

"Come." A voice sounded, coming from the bears unopened mouth. Eas stared in shock.

"E, eh?" She was able to voice, confused and slightly curious.

"Come, there isn't much time. We must destroy the Akuma." He continued.

"Distroy what? Demons?" Eas repeated.

"Yes."

She couldn't help it, it was just too strange. An uncontrollable laughter erupted from her mouth. She thought she had finally snapped, or at least the coughing had made her delusional.

"What's wrong with you? We need to get going!" The bear tugged on Eas's wrist. She sat up, wiping a tear from her eye.

"You, you are not real, only a figment of my imagination. Teddy, you are a stuffed animal. I am not going to go running around with my imagination pretending to be a magic girl trying to defeat demons with my teddy bear and spotted pyjamas!"

"I am not your imagination." The bears beaded eyes furrowed with animation.

"Sure your not." Eas turned around and dangled her feet from the bed, looking at the wall.

"Soon enough, you'll disappear."

Teddy's patience snapped. "Damn girl! See if this feels like your imagination!" He sent a flying kick towards her head, smashing her into the wall. She slid off like an American cartoon, her face smushed into the wall. Teddy stood on the edge of her bed, his arms folded and eyes closed in approval. "See? How did that feel, you disobedient brat?"

Eas sat up, rubbing her face.

"You hit me." Teddy nodded. "You hit me, you stupid, crap piece of cloth! I'm going to pull out all of you're stuffing except for that massive head of yours! Try hitting me after that! Try getting up after that!" She took both sides of his face and started pulling at the fabric, hard. Teddy screamed in pain.

"Ow! Ow! Hey! Stop that! OWEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!"

"Sooooooo, you say, this Earl guy is really bad?" Eas was sitting on the bed, propped up against the head rest. Teddy was on the arm chair on the other side of the room, continuously rubbing at his stretched face.

"Yes. He creates the akuma from grieving people."

"Ok, then, and what does that have to do with me?" A yoyo smacked the middle of her face. "What the hell did you do that for?" She asked, looking at the yoyo, bewildered. "And where'd you get this from?"

Teddy sat back down after his attack. "I have a secret compartment in my stomach, but that's not the point here! We've been over this before! You are an exorcist; you were created to defeat the Earl."

"Nooo, I was created to be a normal person with a normal life." Eas retorted bull-headedly. Teddy snorted.

"This sort of life style isn't normal. Besides, the seekers will find you eventually, so you might as well go now!"

Eas shook her head. "I like where I am now. I am not leaving."

Teddy sighed in frustration. This had been going on for a while. "If you don't go, Akuma will eventually find you, and kill you. You have no choice, if you want to save all the humans you hold dear, you must go."

"I have no one." Eas huffed. "What about those guys getting you're supper?" Teddy accused. "I'm only with them for convenience."

"Don't you have anybody in which you would want to protect?" Teddy huffed disappointedly. "None." Eas knew that was a lie. Her head was filled with images of her aunt and the people she had met between jobs, and Mack, and Will, and especially Tyki. It was plain on her face that she was lying and Teddy took this to his advantage.

"Everyone will DIE if you don't become an exorcist. All those people you're thinking of, they will all be ash, sooner or later, if it's the Earl, it's most likely sooner."

Eas hid her eyes. "Damn, I really hate you, teddy."

"Call me Edmund." He corrected her. She looked up.

"Edmund, why?"

"Because that's my name!" He answered hastily.

"You're name is teddy." Eas corrected him. "I named you that."

"But teddy's so cute! Ed is manlier!" Teddy said, flexing his non-existent muscles.

"That's so lame." Eas concluded and Teddy sighed distastefully.

"Regardless, you haven't answered my question. Will you go with me?"

"Oh, now you're asking?" Eas snorted a sneer across her face.

"Well, I wanted to give you a choice." Teddies face got a shade bit darker, which made Eas smile.

"Alright. If it gives my friends a chance to live a long and healthy life, I will try it out."

Teddy shook his head.

"Once you're in, you can never go back. You must stay an exorcist until you, or the Earl is dead, preferably the Earl. Either that, or I am destroyed, which would result in you being useless to the order."

"Wow, the order sounds like a great place." Eas smiled sarcastically.

"Their just trying to win this war." Teddy concluded.

* * *

"Sarra!" Mizuki called down the hall. The short female exorcist scuttled to her side with an anxious expression on her face. Mizuki smile at her look and decided to hold her in suspense for just a few more seconds. Sarra's eyes nearly crossed in anticipation. "Well? Tell me already! Are they here, or not! Are they hurt? What going on?" She exploded, her patience tired. Mizuki laughed. "Their on their way here right now! And they have a new-comer!" Sarra sighed. "You know what that means! Komui's going to go crazy!" She nodded in agreement. "But Allen's coming home too!" She nudged Sarra with her elbow and her face lit up red. "I, I really, umm, I don't, like him! I, I just want to, to make sure he's safe, that's, that's all." Sarra stuttered, her face growing darker, "Don't worry; your love obsession is safe with me!" Mizuki ducked as Sarra tried to punch her in the head. "I am not obsessed with Allen! I just, I feel we have a kin-ship because we are both short!" Mizuki snorted. "Sure, whatever you say!" Sarra's face smoothed as she thought of a come-back. "What about you and Lavi, huh? I hear he's coming back with them! It's been a while since you've seen him, hasn't it?" Mizuki's face was now the one to go darker, though she quickly hid it by retorting, "Lavi is like a toy to me! He's someone I can tease and pick on when I'm bored. He's nothing more than a boredom saver to me!" Sarra rolled her eyes, "Sure." They made their way to the entrance to await their friends return.

Seraphina was already waiting in the lab along with all the scientists and Lenalee. They were watching a screen that showed the entrance and the people in front of it. Sarra and Mizuki joined them before heading to the entrance themselves. Seraphina was chuckling at the new-comers looks; apparently he had a great resemblance to a vampire, which the other two noticed as well. Komui was already at the gate. From the sound of the sirens, it appeared that the new-comer was suspicious. Lenalee, however, concluded that he could not possibly be an Akuma.

On the screen, Komui was summoning something. Out of no-where a massive robot appeared beside Komui. Everyone groaned in dismay as they recognized the monster. "Another komurin? Not again!" Lenalee was already heading to the door to restrain her brother and his crazy invention as he was ordering it to destroy the boys. Soon Lenalee appeared on the screen, after a massive chase scene encouraged by komurin, who proceeded into adding Lavi as an ingredient in a giant omelette, and carrying on to the others, Lenalee finally got to the robot before it could change anyone else into a great helping of food, by smashing Komui with her foot, and promptly lodging komurin into the sky with her innocence, destroying yet another of Komui's creations.

Seraphina and the others were held back as the guys led by Lenalee where escorted to Komui's work place, where Krowley's innocence received a "check up", and since it happened to be his teeth, which creeped nearly everyone out; it was especially painful for him. After that, they were hustled to Hevalaska, who examined the struggling Krowley. It was a while before the others where even able to meet up with he ones who had returned. It wasn't until they where crowded in the cafeteria to help set up for Krowley's party that they where able to really talk. Sarra rushed over to Allen, stopping herself only a few feet away from him, afraid to be any closer, but to anxious to be any further away. "Hey Allen! Welcome home!" She rewarded him, blushing slightly. "Hey Sarra, it's good to be back!" He smiled at her as he turned to set up a table with an arm load of cups. Sarra helped him as she pushed for information on their adventure.

Mizuki met up with Lavi and greeted him with a hard hit on the head. "OW! What!" He demanded, turning around to meet Mizuki's stern glare. "Not one call! I didn't receive even one call from you! I had to rely on Komui to relay information on you! You know how indecisive Komui is! You where gone longer this time, too. What where you searching for?" It took Lavi a few seconds to process everything. "Mizuki?" He finally sputtered. "Yes, idiot. It seems I've forgotten how slow you are." Lavi laughed. "I'm not slow; I was just dazzled by your beauty!" His cheap grin earned a hard smack in the face. Regardless of his joke, Mizuki's face still showed a light blush. "But seriously, it has been a while." Lavi laughed, rubbing his cheek. "Yeah. And whose fault was that?" "We had some stuff to look up, and then we got caught up with Allen and them" Mizuki frowned. "Bad excuse." They proceeded to one of the set tables to discuss his absence and steal some rice balls.

Seraphina kept herself busy with handing out plates to each table. Kanda had left for a mission so she was in a bad mood. Though not having had a mission for a while had set her tone lighter, she was still on edge with the mission he had been sent on. It could be long.

Soon everyone was hushed as Krowley drew nearer to the cafeteria. Allen and Lavi left their positions to stand up front with Lenalee. When Krowley entered the large room, everyone welcomed him home. It was always fun to hold these gatherings, and it was great to have an addition to the much growing family.

* * *

"Face it Teddy! Were lost!" Eas groaned as they trudged through a thick fog. "Were not lost." He retorted, though his face was crinkled up in confusion. "The cliff is near here. We just have to pass through a town, then a forest, and climb that damn cliff, and were there!" "Then where's the town?" Eas asked, looking around vigorously. They had been walking for a few days with no money and they were both cranky. "You brought me out here to die! How do I know you're not the Noah!" "I'm a talking stuffed bear!" Teddy bellowed, hurt. "Then an Akuma? They could look like you!" "Look! I'm you're innocence and that's that!" Teddy growled. Eas huffed.

"So, umm, can all innocence speak?" she changed the subject slightly. "I don't think so." Teddy continued; "I think maybe that's you're power, I'm not sure, we'll find out when we get to the order." Eas shivered. "Great. I have the creepiest power ever. I can make inatomate objects come to life." She thought of a room full of dolls, staring at her while she slept. Another shiver ran down her spine. "Scary." The fog lifted slightly and they where able to catch sight of protruding figures, the town. "We're off to see the super scary exorcist wizard…" Eas sung as they made their way out of the fog, and into the bustling crowd of the town.


	2. Missing Time

"Awww! That last place was soooo boring!" Alexandreina complained, swinging her feet over the edge of the cart that was hauling them through some thick brush. Vasilisa shoved some hay into a bunch and laid down on it, staring up at the fast moving clouds. "What did you expect? We where only there to research a case that could have been some innocence." Alexandreina frowned. "But I really wanted to kill some Akuma! Last time we found innocence there where lots of Akuma." "Well, we didn't find any innocence this time, so obviously there where no Akuma." Vasilisa turned on her side to hide her eyes from the blaring sun. It was noon. "When we get back, I'm going to demand that Komui gives us a more challenging mission, with lots of Akuma!" Vasilisa frowned. "Can't we just relax? We've been on 4 missions in a row! I think it's time for a break." Alexandreina looked at her in disbelief. "A break won't find the heart, Vasilisa. A break won't kill the Earl!" She was pumped. Vasilisa promptly tuned her out, away from the long lecture ahead of her, and watched as the thick forest passed beside them. She was exited to be going home. One of the few things she ever got exited about. "How long will it be until we get there? Do you think we've missed much? I wonder if they'll have a party for us, or any new missions! I hope we get new missions!" Alexandreina spent the later half of the cart ride day dreaming of destroying Akuma, and getting lots of missions. To Vasilisa's dismay, she felt the need to voice her dreams as well. _Never again are we going to celebrate with an all you can eat dessert buffet. Never again._ Vasilisa thought to herself before drifting off into a light slumber.

"Ok, so we've past the village, got some food-""I don't agree with you're money obtaining methods." Teddy interjected. "Shut up! I saw you sneak some meat kabobs off of someone's cart! How can you even eat, anyways?" Eas objected, her mouth bursting with a semi-chewed sweet bun. "I open my mouth and shove it in! Don't ask where it goes! I'm not too sure myself. And regardless, you took even more than we needed!" Eas pouted. "I didn't mean to, it's habit. Anyways, as I was saying, we passed the village, and where out of the forest, so where's the cliff? You said nothing about a grassy field." "That's because there shouldn't be one!" Teddy exclaimed, frustrated. "We must have taken a wrong turn or something, it's because you insisted on resting at the village for the night!" Eas punched Teddy on the head. "It was dark! You can't expect me to walk through a forest in the dead of night! Do you know what could be out there?" "You are an exorcist! You could handle it!" Teddy rejected. "I haven't been trained at all!" Eas huffed. "Ok, so maybe if we turn here, we'll make it back to the forest." "Good idea." Teddy frowned. "Let's walk in circles and get more lost than we already are." "Do you have a better idea?" She growled. "Leave it to me! I have an excellent tracking nose." Teddy tapped his nose excitedly. "What are you? A blood hound?" Why didn't you tell me you could track it earlier?" Teddy frowned. "Because I knew you'd make fun of me!" "Sorry." Eas apologized. "Can you find the scent?" Teddy nodded. "It's really strong if we walk through the passage you suggested we should be there…" Teddy cut off his sentence as they looked through an opening of trees. A large stone wall stood 50 metres away. The dense rock rose high above the clouds. "How on earth did we miss that?" Eas demanded, shocked. "Let's go." Teddy began walking towards the cliff. "How the heck are we going to get up there? Is there a staircase somewhere?" "Nope." Teddy answered promptly. "We climb." Eas's jaw unlocked and her mouth hung open. "Are, are you kidding me? No way! I'll fall to my death!" Teddy grunted. "You'd better watch your step then." "I am going to die." Eas concluded, gripping onto the rock wall and pushing herself up a few feet from the bottom.

"Allen, Lenalee, Komui wants you in his office! It looks like you got a new mission!" Reever yelled into the nearly empty cafeteria. It was mid-noon and the bunch of exorcists had nothing to do. Allen was playing a game of old maid, forced upon by Lenalee, with her and Sarra. Lavi was making a castle of bread sticks while Mizuki was cheering him on. Seraphina watched the card game. The castle fell down as Lavi was distracted by Reever. "Oi! Would ya keep it down? I'm trying to break a world record here!" Lavi bellowed at Reever, resetting his base. Reever sighed. "Allen, Lenalee?" They stood up and walked over to Reever. "Good luck!" Sarra piped up, looking only at Allen. Mizuki chuckled at her and she sent a dirty glare in her direction. As the other two left, Seraphina let out an exasperated sigh. "Man, I thought he was going to make me go! I was so scared." She melted onto the table, her eyes closed. "You really don't like missions, do you?" Sarra asked her, while cleaning up the cards. "Nooo, I just love going out and facing my death by fighting gross evil demons that's only purpose in life is to track you down and kill you. Now why would I ever hate that?" She let her sarcastic side slip out. She was becoming lazy from the amount of time she had. "Jeez, I was just asking." Sarra sighed, walking over to where Lavi and Mizuki sat, the tower now double the size it had originally been. "I'm going to the lab." Seraphina mused before walking through the large doorway.

"What's with her?" Lavi questioned, his concentration peaked on the wavering tower. "She's in love with Kanda, though she still rejects her feelings, and now she's in a super bad mood." Mizuki explained, chewing on a bread stick. Sarra nudged her in the side. "Ow! What?" "You shouldn't talk about her personal life like that! She'll kill you!" "Sure Sure." Mizuki turned back to Lavi, his face an uncomfortable shade of blue, his hand over his mouth. "Hey, umm, you alright?" Sarra asked, shocked by the colour. "Let your breath out, idiot!" Mizuki slapped his hand away from his mouth and a loud Corus of laughter erupted from his mouth. "She…likes…..YU?????" Tears welled in his now red face. "It's not that funny." Sarra grumbled. "It's Yu! How could it not be funny! Wow, she's going to have to wait forever before he notices she's interested in him!" Lavi wiped the tears from his eyes. "Not all guys are as foreword as you, idiot, and he's defiantly better then Allen!" Mizuki corrected him. Sarra stepped on her foot under the table. "Ow! Stop doing that!" "Stop talking about him that way!" Sarra growled. "Oh, sorry, I forgot that you…" Sarra's hand flew over Mizuki's mouth before she could finish her sentence. "I eat blueberries. You forgot that I eat blueberries." She finished the sentence for her. "That doesn't make any sense." Mizuki mumbled from behind Sarra's hand. "You look flush, why don't you go to the nurse?" Sarra prodded. "I feel fine." Mizuki assured her. "No no, I really think you should go. Here, I'll take you. Lavi, will you excuse us?" Lavi looked confused. "Umm, ok, do you need any help?" "Nope!" Sarra concluded, dragging Mizuki out the doorway. Lavi looked after them, confused. "What'd you do that for? I told you I feel just fine!" Mizuki said, prying Sarra's hand off her face. "Don't talk about who I do or do not like! You promised it would be our secret!" Sarra's face was bright red and her eyes glistened. Mizuki thought she could see steam coming from her head. "Oh, alright! You don't have to get angry! I, I just, when I'm with Lavi, it's like I just can't keep my mouth shut. If he asks about something, it's like I have to tell him! I think he used some kind off voodoo against me!" Sarra sighed. "And you accuse Seraphina of being clueless?" Mizuki furrowed her eyebrows. "I told you! He's a…" "A toy, I know." Sarra started walking down the hall. "Where are you going?" Mizuki asked, slightly agitated. "To the lab. I want to apologize to Seraphina before she finds out from someone else." Mizuki's eyes lit up. "No! You cannot do that! She will rip my head off! She'll become a female Kanda and tear me to shreds!" "Then you should have thought of that before you opened you're big mouth!" Sarra turned into the hallway leading to the lab. Mizuki lunged at her, knocking her to the ground. "You can't do that! I'll die! Do you want that?" "At least you'll die with my secret intact, hey! Stop pulling my hair!" Mizuki sat up, holding out her pinkie finger. Sarra sat up as well, panting. "Ok, so if I promise you I will bring you're secret to my grave, however early that may be, will you promise not to tell Seraphina what I told Lavi? I'll make sure he shuts up, too." Sarra's eyebrows lowered. "How do I know you'll keep the secret next time Lavi brings the topic up?" Mizuki rummaged around in her pockets before pulling out a roll of tape. "I'll put this over my mouth every time that happens!" Sarra stared in shock. "I didn't know you had pockets!" Mizuki rolled her eyes. "Do we have a deal?" Sarra sighed. "Fine. But if Seraphina finds out in the end, it's not my problem." Mizuki beamed. "Ok, now we can go to the lab." Sarra rolled her eyes. "Fine."


	3. The Alternate Squad

"The line on your end is bad, Daisya." Noise Marie noted as he checked his surroundings.

"Geez, my radio Golems been acting up lately." Daisya replied.

"What are you're locations?" Kanda interjected, annoyed.

"Maybe 3km east of a large, weird tower." Daisya concluded through the haze.

"I think I'm 5km west of said place." Marie continued. "I'm south." Kanda grunted. "How troublesome." He whispered under his breath.

"Looks like it'll be a long night." Daisya chuckled.

"I can hear the Akuma's noise everywhere- we've entered their territory." Marie concluded his assessment.

"Let's rally. Since we're within 10km of each other, our golems can trace each other." Kanda volunteered.

"Fine, Kanda and I'll meet with you, old man Marie." Daisya joked. Marie ignored his comment.

"The time?"

"By dawn." Kanda announced.

"Any more news on Tiedolls group?" Mizuki asked, walking into the lab, promptly followed by Sarra. Komui looked up from his desk, tears streaming from his face and a mountain of papers to his right.

"Ahh yes, I shall need to have a long and intense conversation with the two of you that might take a couple of hours…" Reever plopped another stack of papers on Komui's desk.

"You're not going anywhere Komui. Now sign these papers!"

"You're so mean! Chaining a brilliant scientist like me to a chair and forcing me to sign papers all day, have you no heart?" Komui's tears flowed more vigorously as he came to the climax of his speech.

"Just sign them already!" Reever growled, agitated. He passed the girls to get some coffee from the cafeteria.

"You're going to kill Reever someday with you're hysterics." Mizuki mused. Komui smiled.

"What where you girls here for again?" He leaned towards them, neglecting the piles of papers.

Mizuki sighed. "Where here for information on Tiedolls team. Have they reached him yet?"

Komui shook his head. "Their in a dangerous area. In enemy territory, if you will."

Seraphina shook her head in agitation. She was lying across the couch, her arms folded across her chest.

"Are they alright?" Sarra asked Seraphina's question for her.

"They seem to be holding up." Komui frowned. He truly hated the exorcists jobs. "We'll just have to hope they'll be alright, and bring them reinforcements if not. But it's Kanda! He'll be fine even if the whole army descends on him!" Komui perked up, his silly side cranked to full.

"Alright." Mizuki said, turning around.

"Where are you going?" Sarra asked her.

"Back to the caf. I've got to see if Lavi has hit the world record yet!" She replied, teasingly. Sarra followed her out of curiosity.

"Seraphina." Komui called to her, his business face suddenly on.

"Yeah?" She asked, bored.

"Will you kill me if I send you on a mission?"

Seraphina looked over at him. "Probably, why?"

"I'm not sure yet, but I think something big is coming, and I want you guys on the ready, in case I have to send you in as reinforcements."

She sighed distastefully. "I'm not a life boat, Komui. I'm not here to save lives."

"But you are, Seraphina. For every Akuma you kill, it's the same as saving another's life." Komui smiled. Seraphina frowned.

"Almost, There!" Eas's hand clutched at the edge of the cliff, hr right leg raised and groping for a safe rock to pull her up on. Teddy sat at the top of the cliff, watching her.

"Almost there!" He encouraged. With one last push, Eas was panting on her back. It had taken her all day, but she had finally made it up the cliff.

"Alright then, no time to take a break. Let's go to the castle!" Teddy brushed himself off and started walking.

"Wait! I just spent my entire day climbing a very steep and scary cliff! Can't I have just a few minutes to compose myself?"

Teddy frowned. "We haven't the time! You can rest after you get in there!"

Eas whimpered as she turned onto her stomach, crawling towards the door like a turtle.

"Get up! What are you doing?" Teddy pushed on Eas's arm to get her to stand.

"Jeez teddy, you're really pushy!"

"Just get moving!" He countered.

Komui looked at the surveillance camera. "Oh. Looks like someone's here."

The entirety of the room gathered at the screen.

"It's a kid! Johnny noted, astonished. "How'd a kid get up here?"

Komui looked around. "Why didn't we put up any defence?"

Reever walked back in with his coffee. "Look at what's beside her." The screen did a close up on the teddy. He was lecturing her about being lazy, his droning pushing through the receiver and echoing through the entire room.

"Is that teddy bear, speaking?" The room gazed in amazement.

"I believe it's lecturing, actually." Reever corrected. "And I bet you that's her innocence."

Komui pouted. "Too bad, it would have been fun to dissect such a specimen and see what makes it move." An evil glint twinkled from his glasses and the room shuttered.

"Look! She's at the entrance!" Johnny pointed out.

"Well, we'll see if my assumptions are right soon enough." Reever concluded.

The gates keeper's eyes bulged as he screamed. "Ex-ray examination! This will distinguish whether you are a human or an Akuma!" Eas's mouth dropped.

"Eh?" A ray shone from the gatekeeper's eyes and engulfed Eas entirely with it.

"What going on? What are you doing?" Eas shouted at the Gatekeeper. "I said, what the hell are you doing, pervert!" Her fist connected with the gatekeeper's forehead and he screamed.

"You cannot touch me! You'll contaminate me!! Hold still while I finish you're ex-ray!"

"Damnit! I'm not going to stand here and wait while you get to ogle at me body!"

"I am not ogling! There's nothing there to ogle at! I'm simply seeing if you are an Akuma!"

"Well I'm not! I'm human!"

"I can't tell that unless you stay still!"

"Never!" Suddenly, Eas's eyes closed, and she fell on her face. A large goose egg protruding from her head.

"There! Now she's still!" Teddy was holding a toy soldier in one hand, his other on his hip.

The entirety of the room gasped in amazement at the little stuffed toy.

"Looks like we have a resilient kid and a crazy bear on our hands. Oh boy." Reever sighed, turning away to work at his desk, gulping down his coffee.

Komui squealed excitedly. "I can't wait to do tests on him!" He bounded off for the entrance.

Eas's eyes fluttered open as she regained consciousness. She sat up in a rush as the memories returned to her. "Where is that damn bear!" She bellowed. A couple of seconds passed before she noticed her surroundings. It was a light blue room, square and small, but strangely homely. It had a night stand beside the single bed she had been laying on, on a chair that was currently occupied by a geeky looking man with a white lab coat on and large round glasses.

"Oh! You're awake!" He exclaimed, startled, when she sat up. "He must have hit you pretty hard, you where out for a little while."

Eas glared at the door. "I'm going to kill him when I find him!"

"Please don't stress! He did what he thought was right! You wouldn't endure the ex-ray, so he took extreme measures, though they where a little unreasonable. Oh well, he's probably feeling it, now. I think Komui's starting the surgery on him.

"Good! I hope it hurts!" She bellowed towards the door.

"I'm Johnny!" He said, holding out his hand.

"Oh! I'm Eas!" She took his hand, shaking it once, then letting go.

"So this is the Black order? Not as dismal as the outside."

"Well, this is your room, so I hope it's to you're likings."

"Wow, I got a room, already?" Eas's eyes expanded in surprise.

"Yeah, all exorcists have one, of course. Anyways, are you hungry? After climbing all day, I'm sure you're starved!"

Eas rubbed her stomach unconsciously. "Actually, I am kinda hungry."

"Good! I'll show you the cafeteria, and then I'll give you a tour!" Eas smiled at him.

"Ok! Sounds good!"

Eas was pushing herself off the bed when a blood curdling shriek sounded from the lower level, carrying on through the corridor up to their level, carrying closer to their door. The two leaned closer to the exit, they ears open with curiosity. As the screaming became louder, it also became more defined.

"Ted, Teddy?" Eas was only able to distinguish the voice as Teddy leaped into her, forcing her back onto the bed. He was bawling his eyes out, burrowing his head into Eas's small chest. A pillow promptly smacked Teddy off of the bed and onto the cold floor. She sat up, her chest heaving from the fright.

"What the hell is with you?" She bellowed.

The snot from teddies nose rubbed against the floor as he stood back up, his arms outstretched to Eas like a pathetic child that had just tripped in the dirt. The pillow smashed into him again, sending him flying, once more, to the ground.

"Stop mit!" He cried through his snot and tears. "I need you to save me!!!!" His desperate pleas confused Eas.

"And why the hell should I save you? You condemned me to this fate, and on top of that, you gave me a giant bruise on my head!"

"I'b Sorry!!!" A new stream of snot mixed with tears ran down his face. Eas sighed.

"What could you possibly need saving from?" Just then Komui's head peered around the corner, a large, evil smile on his face and a scary glint in his glasses.

"Who's that?" Eas whispered to Johnny.

"That's Komui, the one who was doing the examination on your bear, it seems he's escaped."

"You're scared of a check up?" Eas looked at teddy, appalled. He was staring at Komui, his small frame shaking with fear.

"I found you!!!" Komui sung in a soft voice. Teddy screamed in fear and scampered up the bed to use Eas as a shield.

"What the? He doesn't look scary at all! You're over exaggerating this! See? He's just a normal doctor…" Komui entered the room as she lost her sentence, the machines hooked up to his arm where so gruesome and frightening, she couldn't peal her eyes away. One of the drills on his left arm started up and a maniacal laughter followed behind it.

"Come on, Mr. Teddy, it wont hurt, much, I just want to take a look at you!"

"No! I'm fragile! Help meeee!!" He pleaded to Eas, her eyes still glued to the drills.

Komui snapped out of it when he noticed Eas sitting on the bed.

"Oh!" He exclaimed, hiding his torture devises. "I need you, too! But first, would you mind helping me with your little friend? It seems he escaped the surgery room."

Eas snapped out of her trance as well. "Wow, for a second there, you really looked like a monster." She shrugged. "Sure, you can do anything you like to him, I don't care."

"Monster! You're all monsters!" Teddy backed away, horrified.

"Awww, shut up. It's you're fault where here, anyways, you have to pay the consequences for your actions." She grabbed him by the head and chucked him at Komui.

"Traitor!" He screamed.

"Have fun!" She chimed, waving as Komui exited down the corridor. Like before, ear piercing screams where heard down the halls.

"Wow, you're ruthless!" Johnny exclaimed, fearfully.

"Nah, I'm just getting a little pay back, so how about that food?"

Johnny nodded and showed her down the same corridor, only this time it was leading to the Cafeteria.

"We should tell Mu-Mu that this cannel is too long." Alexandreina was lounging on the end of the gondola, her feet tracing the waters surface.

"Hmm, maybe if you would row the boat for once, we'd be there faster?" Vasilisa had been suckered into rowing the boat yet again, and her muscles where beginning to ache.

"But I have to keep a watch out!" Alexandreina protested.

"For what! There's nothing here! It's like the safest place in the world from Akuma!"

"Still…"

"You're just looking for an excuse!" Vasilisa complained.

"No! You just need to row faster, that's all!" Alexandreina retorted.

"Fine, Then I won't row at all! See how fast we get home then, and to another mission!"

"Well if you stop, then you wont to laze around all day in you're bed!"

"I don't need a bed, I have a comfy Gondola!"

"Well I don't need a mission! I have a look out here!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

"……………………."

"Umm, how on earth did we end up like this?" Both girls had there hands on the row, paddling it from side to side with all there might.

"No clue. But we are going faster." Vasilisa concluded, satisfied.

"I hear someone new is here?" Mizuki prodded to Seraphina.

"Yeah, it's a kid." She stated coldly. "Awww, come on! You have to give more detail then that! Is it a girl, or boy? Are they cute?"

Seraphina sighed. "I couldn't tell. Probably a girl, but it could have been a boy that hasn't hit puberty yet."

"Yeah, it's hard to tell at that age." Mizuki chuckled.

"If you're you curious, why don't you go find her?"

"I don't know where she is." Mizuki concluded.

"Well I sure as hell ain't keeping tabs on them!"

"Easy, there, Seraphina, it's like you're a completely different person when you know who's not around."

"That's it! You're dead!" Seraphina growled, chasing after Mizuki as she made a run for it.

The cafeteria was packed as they ran into it for supper. Mizuki ran full speed to the cook, attempting to catch her breath. "I'll have three specialty rice balls and two pork buns please, and make it fast! I need to get out of here before she finds me!"

"Mizuki!"

"Oops! Looks like I'm already caught! I'll come back for the food in a couple of seconds once I loose some of this dead weight I'm carrying around!" She bolted once more for the door but Seraphina beat her to it. They made a stand off for 2 seconds before Mizuki caught sight of Lavi Walking over to a crowded table. She turned swiftly to the angle in which he was in and ran for it. Followed closely behind by Seraphina.

"Lavi!" Mizuki cried as she slid to a stop a few inches away from him. He had just sat down with his place full of foreign foods.

"Hey, cutie, I need you to do me a favour!" She slides even closer to him, close to touching. He gulped loudly, his face already a bright shade of red.

"Can you take care of a certain little pest for me? I can't seem to handle it on my own." She pouted.

"Sure, sure thing!" He stuttered, his face turning a dangerous shade.

"Thank you sweetie!" She blew him a kiss before fleeing the scene.

Lavi barely had time to collect himself with a simple "SCORE!" Before Seraphina showed up, panting.

"Lavi, have you seen Mizuki around here by any chance? I could have sworn she came in this direction."

Lavi chuckled dreamily at her name. "Nope, can't say I have!"

Seraphina sighed. "You're no help at all." She decided to give up for a while and walked back to the kitchen to order some Soba.

Eas and Johnny were walking into the kitchen when two girls interrupted their path. They where both panting and one seemed to be really angry. It wasn't long, though, before the other one took off again, quickly followed by the mad one on her heels.

"Is this place usually so rowdy?" Eas asked, shocked at the large quantity of people.

"Only at meal times, also, a few exorcists are still waiting for a mission, like the two that just ran off. That's what makes it seem so lively."

Eas nodded. They walked over to the chef and Johnny introduced the two

"This is Johnny, our head chef."

"My, another cute child has entered! What would you like to eat? I can make you anything you want!"

Eas looked up at him awkwardly. "You're weird. But I don't mind you. Did you say anything?"

Jerry looked down at her in surprise. "Umm, thank you? And yes, anything in the world, at all, what ever you like!"

"Then I want centipede soup with caterpillar and aunt cookies and some beetle paste of a spider biscuit please!" Both Johnny and Jerry stared at her in shock.

"I'm just kidding." She assured them. "I wanted to see if he really could make anything, but I see that was a bad joke."

"Don't worry; some people just have weird tastes, so we learn not to assume a joke when the orders placed. Can I get you something you might actually eat?"

"Oh." Eas thought. "Then I guess I'll just have a bowl of tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich please!"

"How American! And cute! It's something a little child would order! Just like you!"

"Ok, maybe I don't like you so much. I'm 14, for your information, I'm not a child, I just like that meal, but if you can't accommodate then I guess I'll have…"

"No, no! I meant it as a compliment! You're so cute, I thought that type of a meal really suited you."

"I'm a girl." Eas added, out of topic.

"Huh?" Jerry replied, confused.

"I'm a girl, so you shouldn't feel the need to hit on me, I'm sure a little boy is more to you're liking."

"What are you calling me, a pedophile? I was giving you a compliment!"

"Fine then. Can I have my sandwich now?" Jerry handed her the food and she walked off as he fumed.

"That wasn't very nice." Johnny said, looking back at the shaken Jerry.

"I just wanted him to know where we stood. I didn't have any intention of hurting him, besides; he was the one displaying all the insults. He should watch his tongue. If I really were a guy, I wouldn't appreciate being called a cutie."

Johnny shook his head disapprovingly. "You're not going to apologize, are you?"

"Nope. I feel no need too. If he stops acting weird, however, I may forgive him."

"You are a strange child." Johnny smiled.

"What ever." Eas dug into her soup.

"Their back! Their Back!" Sarra chimed as she skipped down the halls.

"Who's back? Allen and Lenalee just left!" Mizuki asked her, joining her in her spring. "Alexandreina and Vasilisa are finally back from their long joining of missions." Sarra explained.

"Oh, wow, I almost forgot about them! It's been a while, where are they?"

"They just got off of the gondola; I imagine their speaking with Komui now. It seems they didn't find anything on their last mission so now Alexandreina is pumped for a new one, though I doubt they'll get one just yet, I think Komui if holding off for something."

"Interesting." Mizuki mused over the newly acquired information.

"Why don't we have a little party tonight?" Sarra volunteered. "Everyone's back, except for Kanda and them, but out of the girls, anyways, and we need to welcome the new one too!"

"So it's a girl?" Mizuki asked, curious.

"Yeah! And she's even shorter than me!" She chimed.

"So that's why you're in such a good mood!" Mizuki laughed.

"I'm just glad almost everyone's together again. We are like the alternate squad."

"What's that mean?" Mizuki questioned.

"I mean, Lenalee, Allen, Kanda, and Lavi always get sent on missions together, so their like one squad, and then you, me, Seraphina, Alexandreina, and Vasilisa are like the other squad! Hence, the word "Alternate"

"Yeah, you are not going to call me an alternate." Mizuki frowned.

"Ok, well you'll get used to it eventually." Vasilisa returned to her starting topic. "So, I was thinking we should have it in the largest room, the party, I mean. That's probably the twin's bedroom, then. Also, we need lots of snacks from The kitchen and what else should we have? Any good games around?"

"I don't think anyone wants to play a silly board game." Mizuki chuckled

"Yeah, I guess we're to old for that, oh well. Maybe the twins will have some ideas."

They turned into the lab to find Alexandreina bickering with Komui on a mission.

"I told you, Aly-chaaaan, I don't have any missions for you yet!"

"But Mu-Mu, I'll absolutely die of boredom if I don't go on another one soon!"

"We'll find you one, but you'll have to be patient, the Akuma will wait!"

"But I won't! Mu-Mu! Give me a mission!"

"I told you already….."

Vasilisa was lounging on the couch, reading a new book she had picked up. She didn't seem to interest in is since her eyes kept drifting off the page and onto the tittles of other books on the towering book shelves.

"Afternoon guys! Long time no see!" Mizuki sauntered into the lab, Sarra skipping to her side. Vasilisa lifted her arm in acknowledgment then returned to her feeble reading attempt.

"Oh good! Mi-Mi and Ra-Ra! You guys can talk some sense into Mu-Mu! He says he has no missions for us! How mean is that! You know he's just holding all the good ones for the others! Look! Were the only ones left!"

"Alternate squad" Sarra whispered and Mizuki chuckled lightly.

"Yeah, it's been like that for a while, guess the Akuma just haven't bee acting up lately!"

"Liar! Akuma are always acting up! You guys just don't care about it! I'll find a mission all on my own then! Come on Vasilisa!"

"You go on, I'll catch up." Vasilisa had changed books through the encounter and was now engrossed in a thick novel.

"Si-Si!!! Let's go! We have to kill Akuma!" Alexandreina whined

"You heard him, theirs nothing to do, lets just take a quick break, for my sanity, please."

Alexandreina huffed. "Fine then! One break! And only for a couple of days!"

"Great! If you can wait till then, I may have a super big mission for you to go on ok?" Komui offered.

"Yay! Mu-Mu, you rock! I take back all the things I said about you!"

"Yeah, I know, Hey! What did you say about me?"

"C'mon Vasilisa! Let's go!" Alexandreina laughed as she scurried out the door, slowly followed by her sister.

"Yeah, I'll catch up with you, don't worry about it." She flipped open her book again and started reading once more as she walked.

"Let's have a party!"

"What?" They where sitting in the cafeteria once again, Alexandreina and Vasilisa with identical plates of food.

"I said, let's have a party! Now that we have our whole group here, and even a new comer, I was thinking we should have a party! We'll stay up all night and eat lots of junk food and talk about girl stuff!" Sarra had everything planned out.

"We have a new comer? Sounds fun!" Alexandreina beamed with excitement.

"Sure." Vasilisa sighed. What she really wanted was a nice relaxing bath and then a quiet and peaceful nap. So much for that dream.

"Then it will be held in your room, since it's the largest, at, lets say, 9:00? That'll give us time to get the food and stuff." Sarra suggested.

"Sounds good to me." Mizuki nodded.

"Alright!" Alexandreina finished.

"Have I ever told you that I sincerely and utterly hate you?" Teddy, along with Eas and Komui where riding the triangular prism shaped elevator down to where Hevalaska resided.

"Awww, don't worry, Teddy, I'm sure it didn't hurt that much! Heck I bet it hurt Komui more!" Komui's face was swollen on one side and he had a giant bald spot on the top of his head, which he hid with his hat.

"He deserved it! You say the horrible things he was using on me! I thought I saw my life flash behind my eyes at one point!"

"Awww, you're such a drama Teddy!." Eas chuckled. "Besides, I only did the exact same thing you did to me!"

"But for you, it didn't include severe pain!"

"True." Eas mused, thoughtfully.

"Where here!" Komui chimed.

"Whoa, what is that?" Eas pointed to Hevalaska.

"She is here to judge you're innocence." Komui answered simply.

Hevlaska's "arms" stretched out to the two of them, grabbing hold, and engulfing them completely.

"What the? It feels like she's searching inside of me! Gross!!"

Teddy was fighting with the arm that grasped him, his face of pure disgust.

"Just relax; she's only judging your compatibility!" Komui called out to them.

"Why the hell do I need this?" Hevalaska leaned close to Teddy, who was still struggling to get free.

"2%, 34%, 46%, 63%, 78%, 81%. It seems your maximum invocation rate at this time is 81%." She set the two back down onto the platform. "I did not mean for you to be frightened, I only wanted to get acquainted with you're innocence."

"Sure, no problem, just don't ever do that again!" Eas reassured her.

"Freaks! You're all freaks! Why on earth did I want to come here in the first place?" Teddy was rubbing his fur as if he had been tainted by Hevlaska's touch.

"C'mon, Teddy, lets get back to our room." Eas rolled her eyes.

Once inside, Eas flopped onto her bed, staring up at the white ceiling. It had been a long day, and she had lots to think about. Again, her thoughts where interrupted by a brusque knock on the door. She sat up, as well as Teddy.

"Who dares disturb the great...?" Teddy was cut off by the sight of five girls, all around the age of 17, looking through the door. Each had great bodies; one of smaller proportions, but still well balanced. Instantly, Teddy went Gaga, and lunged himself at the girls!

His head squished into the middle of Mizuki's chest as she clung to her, rubbing his small head against her.

"Ahh, it's been too long since I've been able to touch some boobs like these!"

Mizuki looked down at the snuggling bear, shocked. Slowly, she peeled him off of her chest, examining him.

"So this is the living teddy bear." She mused. "Looks just like a perverted boy to me!" She drop-kicked him into the far wall were he slid back onto the floor, out cold.

"Oops! Sorry, didn't mean to kick him so hard!" She apologized, looking at the stuffed animal with further curiosity.

"No, no, don't be, I've been trying to figure out how to nock him unconscious for a while now, thanks for that!" Mizuki nodded in understanding.

"Must be hard having a pervert as you're innocence."

"Actually, he never puts the moves on me, apparently I'm not his type. He likes figures like yours, so watch out."

Mizuki chuckled. "I've got one of my own to deal with, so don't worry about me, I'm an expert. By the way, my name is Mizuki, this small one here is Sarra, The twins behind me are Alexandreina, with the pig tails, and Vasilisa, with the loose pony tail."

Eas nodded. "My name's Eas, and this here's Teddy, though he insists his name is Edmund, just ignore that."

The girls laughed. "So we were about to have a party in the twins' room, wanna come?" Sarra invited.

"Sure, I'd love to! As long as Teddy stays here!"

"Of course! It's a girl's only party!" The twins announced.

"Sounds like fun!" Eas fallowed the girls out of the room, towards the twins room, and a new friendship also know as the Alternate Squad.


	4. Truth Or Dare

The room was a light grey colour. It was quite possibly four times the size of Eas's room, but it was also housing to people. A bed rested on either side of the room, and one dresser that was shared stood between the door and the right wall. A girl who looked to be of French origin was setting up a table of snacks at the far wall of the room. Her long blonde hair had a small wave in it. Her eyes were an astonishing green, practically illuminating her pale face.

"Who's that?" She caught notice of the group as they entered the room.

"This is Eas! She's the newcomer everyone was talking about, well, they where talking about Krowley first, but now they are talking about her." Sarra smiled.

Seraphina nodded and returned to her work, setting up a tray of fruits.

"That's Seraphina; she's not usually in such a bad mood…" Mizuki trailed off as she returned a glare from Sarra. "Never mind, I'll tell you later." She whispered. Eas nodded in confusion.

The twins plopped down on Alexandreina's flower printed bed as they watched Seraphina finish the preparations.

"I do love how you guys are so willing to help me out here, especially since this wasn't even my plan!" Seraphina growled.

"Sorry!" Sarra hurried to help with the food, pulling a sack of chips open and shoving them in a bowl.

Mizuki chuckled. "I wouldn't want to get my hands all dirty from the food! I'll leave that for you guys!" Seraphina glared at her, chucking the heaviest thing she could find in her direction. This happened to be a cantaloupe which Mizuki dodged with ease, but the wall wasn't fast enough. The cantaloupe exploded across the wall, juice splattering everywhere.

"Great! Just great!" Seraphina groaned.

"Hey, why'd you throw that cantaloupe at our wall? Now my beautiful flower sheets are ruined!" Alexandreina had gotten off the bed, now facing Seraphina. Her face held a bright smile, but a popping vein gave away her anger.

"Hey now! I did nothing! Mizuki was the one that didn't catch it!" Seraphina put the blame on Mizuki.

Mizuki looked up, surprised. "I didn't think I was supposed to catch a flying missile!"

"It was a cantaloupe!"

"It could have shattered my brain!"

"What brain?"

Alexandreina's knuckles cracking shut them up. "If that doesn't get cleaned up quick, both your brains will be shattered." Her smile widened, friendlier, but still, just as evil. "Please?" A chill ran down their backs.

"I'll get a cloth." Mizuki volunteered, scurrying away from Alexandreina's friendly wrath. Seraphina began collecting the chunks of cantaloupe still intact.

Vasilisa sighed and switched over to the dry bed, which happened to be hers. Eas decided to join her, sitting on the far edge of the mattress, watching Seraphina pick up the cantaloupe.

"Is it always like this here?" She whispered to Vasilisa.

"Basically." She replied, her eyes closing as she laid back on her bed.

"All done!" Mizuki whipped her forehead with relief, the wet cloth still in her hand. "I think we got it all!" It had taken a couple of minutes, but it wasn't long until the room was tidy again. Seraphina had given up after she had finished collecting the cantaloupe pieces and was currently residing at the base of Alexandreina's bed, her eyes closed.

"So what now?" Vasilisa asked, her head resting against Vasilisa's bed, opposite of Seraphina.

"Truth or dare?" Mizuki offered with a cold smile.

"Alright!" Alexandreina cheered enthusiastically.

"Oh joy." Seraphina grunted.

"Me first!" Alexandreina held her enthusiasm.

"Alright, Alexandreina, truth or dare?" Mizuki asked, her smile devilish.

"Ohh! Dare!" She cheered. Mizuki thought for a while, finding a nice and tough one to force upon her to begin.

"You haven't met Krowley yet, have you?" Mizuki asked her.

"Nope."

"Then why don't you go over to his bedroom, knock on the door, and once he opens the door, you must hug him, then run away without any further explanation. Well be watching from the staircase to make sure you did it!"

Alexandreina nodded. "Sounds fun! What's his room number?"

"I'll show it to you!" Mizuki laughed, lunging out the door, Alexandreina, fallowed slowly by the others, all drained out after her.

"Ok so, I'm pretty sure it's this one. You remember what to do, right?" Alexandreina nodded. "Good. We'll be at the stairs if you need us, I must warn you, he does look a little scary at first, but I think he's a real cry baby once you get a taste of his personality. Anyways, good luck!" She held up her thumb, and then dashed back to the stairs where everyone else was waiting. Alexandreina cleared her throat, adjusted her shoulders, and then knocked on the hard wooden door. A loud bang sounded, followed by a short cry and then shuffling feet towards the door. Krowley's large frame replaced the door as he answered it. He looked down in surprise at the smiling Alexandreina. He looked around in confusion and then back down at her.

"C, can I help you, miss?" He asked, extremely confused. Alexandreina ignored his question and followed her instructions. She wrapped her arms around his thick waist, barley able to connect for a full embrace. Krowley's face lit up in both embarrassment and confusion.

"Miss? I think you have the wrong person! Miss? I'm sorry!" Tears welled up in his confused eyes. Mizuki, fallowed by Seraphina and even Sarra burst into laughter. It was such a hilarious sight!

Finishing with the plan, Alexandreina detached herself from Krowley, who was in hysterics. She smiled up at him one more time before skipping off towards the stairs, Krowley watching in awww.

"How was that?" She asked when she got to the stairs.

"Perfect! Just the reaction I was looking for! Mizuki was sitting on the third step, holding her sides, laughter jumbling her sentence.

"Krowley." Eas was staring at the door Krowley had stumbled back through. "I've seen him before. I just can't quite remember where."

Mizuki shrugged. "You could have. Anyways, let's get back to the room and continue the game! Alexandreina, it's you're turn to chose someone!"

Alexandreina thought as they hurried back to the dorm. "Ok! Vasilisa! Truth or dare?"

"What a big surprise." Vasilisa sighed, flopping down onto the bed. "I really don't feel like moving, so I'll take truth."

Alexandreina pouted. "No fair!" She thought hard. "Fine! Rate all the boys you know from the hottest to the least hot!"

Vasilisa sighed. "You're not very original, ok. Let's see… well, there was that one guy, we only saw him once or twice, he was pretty cool."

"Who, who? Alexandreina pressed.

"Umm, he's not from around here. All the guys here are boring. He wears black makeup, and has a twin, I think, just like us."

"Who are you talking about?" Alexandreina asked, confused.

"You know the one on the Noah's side!" The room went quiet.

"You like a Noah?" Mizuki asked in shock.

"No, I just thought he was kinda cool, to answer Dreina's question."

"Ok, so who do you think is the second hottest? The other twin?"

Vasilisa made a face. "No, he's a wacko. I wouldn't want him any where near me! But maybe the well dressed one, you know, the one who can't put a smoke down? He's pretty cool too."

"Oh, you mean Tyki? You really have a thing for the villains, don't you?"

Vasilisa frowned. "What ever, like I said, all the guys here are boring."

"Did you say Tyki?" Eas piped up, she was sitting on Dreina's bed this time, swinging her feet.

"Yeah, do you know him?" Alexandreina asked.

"No, just someone with the same name. He's not evil, he's actually really kind."

"Well that's surely not a Noah." Sarra laughed.

"Really, their bent on making people miserable! That's how they get their Akuma army, anyways." Mizuki added.

"Ok, Vasilisa, you're turn to choose someone!" Alexandreina continued.

"Fine, umm, Seraphina, truth or dare."

Seraphina groaned. "Pass."

"You can't pass!" Alexandreina argued.

"Fine! Truth! I don't care!" Seraphina grunted.

"Alright, now I'm just curious about this, so don't bite my head off, but what's the real reason you're in a bad mood?"

Seraphina looked up. "You haven't heard? Apparently it's because Kanda's not here." She glared menacingly at Mizuki, Who laughed awkwardly.

"Yeah, sure, but is their any other reason?"

Seraphina ducked her head. "Umm, it's not really something I want to share."

"Please????" Alexandreina pressured.

"Just don't laugh, ok?" They all stared at Mizuki.

"What? I promise you wont here a peep out of me!" She smiled.

Seraphina ran her fingers through her hair. "Ok, well you know how I have like an incredible amount of siblings?" The group nodded, excluding Eas who was hearing this for the first time. "Well, it was my third youngest sisters' birthday today and we were really close, so I guess I'm just missing her." She ground her hand into her head, embarrassed.

"It was your sisters Birthday?" Alexandreina finally voiced.

"Yeah."

"Why didn't you go see her?"

"Komui said to be patient; he says he'll need us soon." She growled.

Alexandreina's eyes lit up. "Sweet, that means a mission! I mean, I'm sorry you couldn't see your sister!"

Seraphina shook her head. "It's ok, I'm sorry I've been in such a bad mood, It was just kind of bugging me."

"Yeah, sorry about spreading that rumour." Mizuki added. "I didn't know it was something like that!"

Sarra rolled her eyes. "Since when have you been considerate of others feelings?"

"Since a long time ago!" Mizuki countered. "I was brought up in a proper household!"

Sarra chuckled. "Sure."

"You're turn, Seraphina, you need to pick someone." Mizuki continued.

"Sarra." Seraphina chose. "Truth or dare?"

"umm, I think I might actually choose a dare, I'd rather not have my personal life peered into by you verbal peeping toms!"

Mizuki laughed. "We're not all that bad!"

Sarra frowned. "Yes you are!"

"Anyways!" Seraphina interjected. "Your dare will be something simple. I don't want to have to move all over the place again. I want you to climb to the top of the dresser- if you can reach- and meow like a cat."

"Did you just slip a short joke in there?" Sarra growled.

"No, I would never do that! It's not like you're pathetically tiny for your age or anything!" Seraphina rolled her eyes. "Now get going."

Sarra huffed and stood up, walking over to the dresser. She decided to be tactical by climbing onto the bed post and leaning over so she could get a good grasp on the dresser before pulling herself up onto it, ducking her head before it hit the ceiling.

"What did you want me to do again?" She asked as she crawled to the middle of the dresser so she wouldn't slip off.

"Just pretend you're a cat." Seraphina replied, slightly bemused.

"Where did you come up with this?" Mizuki whispered to her.

"I dunno, I just thought it would be interesting to see." She replied.

"M, meow?" Sarra cried, embarrassed.

"What? I can't hear you!" Seraphina challenged.

"Meow!" Sarra screamed. "That good enough for you?"

Seraphina chuckled. "Sure, that's just fine. I'll have that in my memories for the rest of my life. Thanks."

Sarra slid off the dresser, brushing herself off.

"Mizuki! It's you're turn! Truth or dare!" Sarra glared.

"Well, I'm obviously no sissy, I go with dare, though I wouldn't trust me on a dresser if I were you; I'm absolutely not tiny enough!" She dodged a pillow thrown her way from Sarra.

"Fine then! I dare you to sneak into Komui's research experiment lab and bring us back something as proof!"

"Whoa! That's going a little far, don't you think?" Seraphina noted. "That place is restricted to everyone, for their own safety. I mean, the last thing that came out of there was Komurin 4, and you saw how messed up it was! Who knows what other evil creations he has in there?"

"I'll do it!" Mizuki bellowed, pumped. "Sounds like an excellent challenge!" She got up, stretching. "Where is it again?"

"Down stairs and to your right, but do you really want to do that? I could find another dare for you, Seraphina's right, it is a little dangerous."

Mizuki shook her head. "Nope! This one's just fine! I'll see you guys soon, want anything in particular?"

"Not a komurin!" Seraphina interjected.

"Something simple, and not life threatening." Sarra added

"Nothing smelly!" Alexandreina finished.

"Kay." Mizuki waved as she walked out the door.

"She's doomed." Vasilisa piped up.

"Good as dead." Seraphina nodded.

"I shouldn't have said anything." Sarra smacked her head with her hand. "I forgot she'll take any challenge that's given to her!"

"Should we go get her? Or just wait here?" Alexandreina asked.

"Wait." They all concluded.

"Is the experimental lab really that scary?" Eas asked.

"Oh yeah, you haven't been here for any of the experiments that were conducted there." Sarra remembered.

"Or any of the Komourin's." Seraphina added.

"Komui is like a mad scientist. The experimental lab is where he conducts all his freeky experiments, and creates things like Komurin, which are robots designed to make his work load lighter." Vasilisa explained.

"Yeah, but every time he creates one, it usually goes berserk and ends up attacking everyone." Alexandreina added. "He never learns from his mistakes, so he just keeps making more."

"I think Lenalee's been destroying all the ones he creates recently. Seraphina recalled.

"Sounds frightful. That Komui guy sounds really evil! Why do we keep him here?" Eas asked.

"Well, he's not actually that back, he's a nice guy, and he usually just creates them to help out others, he just ends up failing in odd ways." Seraphina explained.

"Oh." Eas thought. "He seems weird."

"Definitely." The others agreed.

As the girls dug into the snacks, Mizuki faced the dreaded experimental lab, risking life and limb for a suitable prize. In a darkened crevasse of the lab sat a glowing concoction. "They never said it couldn't glow." Mizuki thought to herself as she picked it up. She placed her bow, which she had taken out as a precaution back into her arrow holder. "Now to get back to the others. At least this bottle provides good illumination! This place is so dark!" She trudged through the abandoned experiments until she caught sight of a dim light a distance away. She headed towards it, hoping it wasn't anything worse than what she had gone through to get there.

"Do you think we should go search for her?" Sarra asked, munching on some chips.

"I'm not going anywhere remotely close to that place!" Eas shivered.

"Same here." Seraphina nodded.

A hand gripped at the door way, pale and webbed with cob webs. The girls shrieked in surprise. Eas hid her self behind a pillow, thinking it was a spider monster. The other girls clung to each other.

"What's up? What's with the faces? It looks like you've seen a ghost!" Mizuki came from around the corner. Her blonde and blue streaked hair matted with webs and her eyes red from the dust.

"You should be a ghost!" Sarra shrieked, still wound up from the fright.

"Nah, it wasn't that bad down there, just dark, and old. I think I was in a section that hadn't been visited in a while, there where cob webs everywhere!"

"And a good thing, too! It's no wonder no one goes down there! It's hazardous!" Seraphina scolded.

"I feel fine, and look, I brought back a souvenir." She held up the glowing substance. "It was way in a far corner, but it was the light I needed to get out of there. Is that proof enough?"

"I think the cob webs and your determination was enough, though this is a bonus… What exactly is it?" Sarra asked, concerned.

"No idea! Wanna try it out?" Mizuki asked.

"On what?" Alexandreina joined the conversation.

"I dunno, got anything good?"

Alexandreina looked around. "Not that I know of, I might have like a stuffed animal or something…"

"Too bad Teddy's not here." Eas smiled devilishly.

Mizuki nodded. "That'd be fun, but I guess a dead stuffed animal will do, too."

Alexandreina tossed a stuffed bunny at Mizuki, who caught it with her right hand, careful not to spill any of the solution on the floor. With a shaking hand, she drizzled the solution on the rabbit. It oozed down the animals torso, forming a stream heading to the floor. Without thinking, Mizuki cupped her hand under it to prevent it from falling to the floor.

"Crap!" She cursed, which was rare. The hand unfortunately didn't hold the liquid for long, and it started to ooze out of the cracks in her hand, coming dangerously close to dripping on the floor.

"If even a drop of that hits the floor, all of you will be whipping it up with your mouths." Alexandreina chimed.

The girls stared at her in awe, then, noticing the realism of her threat, the simultaneously lunged for the now dripping liquid. Seraphina's hand caught the first drop, Sarra's the second, and Eas's the third and even Vasilisa at the bottom, right above the floor. She wouldn't dare risk having to clean it up, even if she was her sister.

"Did anything hit the floor?" Alexandreina sang. The group peered down to check the floor, which had fortunately been left spotless. To the girls horror though, they each had a fine amount of potion on their hands.

"Oh my god! Were going to die!" Sarra cried out.

"Damnit." Seraphina growled, looking at the large pool of potion in her hands. "I'm going to kill you if this does anything weird to me, Mizuki." The others nodded in agreement.

"Hey! This isn't my fault! It was Alexandreina who couldn't stand having anything on her floor!"

"Yeah, but you're the one who was idiotic enough to poor the whole this on the bunny!" Sarra explained.

"I wanted to make sure it worked! Geez!" Mizuki said, shaking her head. "Now I think we'd better get this stuff off out hands before something strange happens."

"Like that?" Eas asked, pointing to the top of Mizuki's head. Two furry black ears had sprouted on either side of her head.

"Aeiiiiiiiiiieeeee!" Mizuki Screamed, dropping the rabbit for Seraphina to catch and grabbing hold of the new addition to her body.

Seraphina groaned. "Are you serious? Were all going to look like panda's?"

Eas shook her head. "Nope! See? You don't have panda ears, you have bunny ears!"

She groaned, standing up and dumping the Bunny into an empty chip bowl. She the grabbed a towel and rubbed her hands clean of the potion.

"You are so going to pay." She growled.

"Oh wow! You've got bear ears, like you're Teddy!" Sarra cried out to Eas.

"Oh, great! Just what I wanted to be, identical to a yo-yo throwing pervert!"

Mizuki looked over to Sarra, prodding at her own ears. "Oh, ha, that's funny." She chuckled.

"What?" Sarra asked.

"That's a little ironic." Seraphina half smiled.

"What am I" Sarra asked. "Please don't tell me I'm a mouse, that'd be just mean!"

"Don't worry, you're not a mouse. Actually, you're a cat." Mizuki laughed.

"Oh." Sarra felt her own ears. "Well I'm not climbing on any more armoire, ok?"

The girls giggled.

"Sure." Seraphina amended her.

"So, uh, how long do you think it'll be before the potion wears off?" Vasilisa asked, pinching at her koala ears.

"Not sure." Mizuki processed. "Maybe we should sleep on it, if they aren't gone by the morning, we'll go to Komui."

"Good luck with that." Seraphina lay down across Alexandreina's bed. Eas curled up next to Vasilisa, who had once again taken up her spot on her bed. Sarra lay on the other side of Vasilisa. At the bottom of the bed. Mizuki propped herself against one side of Alexandreina's bed with a bunch of pillows.

Alexandreina stood, dumbfounded. How on earth are we supposed to sleep in the same room? She asked in shock.

"Like this." Seraphina rolled over to give Alexandreina a spot on the bed.

"I don't want anyone to ever get a chance to see me like this again, so let's all go to sleep right now!" Seraphina ordered as they blew the lamp light out.

"What's the matter, Komui, you said it was urgent?" Lavi asked, rubbing his eye.

"Where's Krowley, and Teddy? I want to make it up to them for their entrance examination. Komui smiled evilly.

"Alrighty then. I'll find Komui; the bear will probably be in the new comer's room." Lavi headed to Crowley's room.

"Hurry back!" Komui sang as he skipped down the halls to Teddy and Eas's room with a single flickering candle.

"You got Krowley?" Komui asked Lavi, Teddy in his hand, half asleep.

"Oi, will you explain to us why you woke us up in the middle of the night now?" Lavi asked, annoyed.

"Well, I was doing some late night experiments, just messing around, and I decided to test an old experiment I have sitting on the shelf from a while back, but when I looked in the place I left it, it was gone!"

"And? Why does this relate to us?"

"Well, I heard the girls where having a party, and when they have a party, they always do some form of truth or dare thing, so I assumed that one of them, most likely one of the braver ones, got a dare to go into my lab and take my experiment. And if that's correct, we just might have a sight to be seen!"

Lavi sighed. "You make no sense, Komui."

"Shhh!" They where rounding the corner to the twin room. "They always have the party's in here, but I'm not sure if they're still awake or not, so we have to be quiet!" Komui whispered.

The three men plus one half asleep Teddy peered into the dark room. Komui brought the candle light up and the room was suddenly illuminated. There, amongst the beds, laid five girls, all with some form of animal markings on their heads, and one normal one, with a smug smile on her face. Lavi caught sight of the sleeping Mizuki in all her panda-ness. He covered his nose to prevent a nose bleed from breaking out, his face a tomato. Krowley screeched silently at the sight of all the girls. Covering his eyes quickly so he couldn't see anymore. Teddy nearly launched himself at the girls, being held back by the wildly satisfied Komui. When they closed the door to the room of animal girls, Komui stared the three boys in the face sternly.

"This is our little secret, boys, if anyone of them finds out about this, were dead!" The three nodded solemnly, Lavi and Teddy putting the picture to memory.

"Thanks, Komui." Lavi smiled. Komui rolled his eyes.

"Let's get going before we do something stupid to wake them up." A loud sneeze erupted from Krowley's mouth.

"Sorry!" He apologized, holding his hands to his face again. The boys sighed and returned to bed.


	5. Mission

Wow. The lab looks busy." Sarra noted as the group walked into the lab, coming from breakfast. The potion had worn off during their sleep and now that all remained was the memory of the mishap.

Komui looked over from a jumble of papers, two phones on his desk ringing simultaneously. "Ah! There you guys are! Were just receiving word from a couple of the search groups that have found their generals, also, the Akuma are starting to act up again." Komui added solemnly.

"Does that mean?" Seraphina gasped, "Kanda's group?"

"Yes, he's found General Tiedoll. Cloud nine and winters Zokalo." Komui finished. Seraphina smiled, suddenly. "So are they on their way back? When will they be here?"

Komui shook his head. "I'm sorry, but Froi Tiedoll is currently on a mission right now, and his squad has decided to support him. They could still be gone for a while." Seraphina frowned, angered by the news.

"Where's Lavi and Krowley?" Mizuki asked. "I was going to bug them, but they weren't in the cafeteria."

"I sent them after Allen and Lenalee, along with bookman. I thought they might need help with their search for Cross, he'll be a hard one to track down." Komui shook his head in disapproval. "Like we can afford handing out our exorcists like that!"

"Then what are we doing here for?" Alexandreina pressed. "We are still here, along with Miranda! Why aren't we out killing Akuma?"

"Actually, Miranda's getting ready to depart. She's going to join up with the others ones she's ready." Komui corrected her.

"Great! So it's just us then! What are we, the Alternate squad of exorcists? They always get the good missions! I want a good mission!" Alexandreina continued her rant.

Komui sighed. "Yes, well the reason I've held you all back is because I have a special mission that will take all of you, at the very least. It will be extremely dangerous, just to you're liking."

Alexandreina squealed with joy while Seraphina held back tears. "Tell us! What are we going to do?"

Komui took out a large folder from his desk and flipped through it, stopping at a random page. "As you might already know, Japan is now not a place for humans. It is a place solely made of Akuma. This is where we believe the Earl to be nesting. I believe this is where Tiedoll is heading, and from the course Allen and the others are taking, it looks like Cross is there to. I want you guys to meet up with Tiedoll and his team and assist them in any way possible."

Seraphina's eyes lit up at the possibilities of the new mission. Even if she had to go, she'd be seeing Kanda again, and it would take her mind off of her family. Obviously Alexandreina cheered. She had just been offered a brand new-semi dangerous mission, and she wasn't going to let that go. Vasilisa sighed, knowing she would be dragged along.

"What about me?" Eas piped up. "I don't even know how to use my innocence yet!"

Komui nodded. "You won't have to depart for a day or two, so until then you are free to train with the others in the arena." Eas nodded.

"This will be a big one." Mizuki prophesized as they headed out the door.

"You have to really give it your all!" Mizuki ordered. They where in the Arena, warmed up and ready to practice. Eas was attempting to activate her innocence, but continued to fail at it.

"I think its Teddy's fault! He's not trying hard enough!" Eas set the blame on the stuffed animal she was strangling with her arm.

"It wasn't this hard to get mine to activate! What's your synchro rate?"

Eas thought hard, back to when she had been introduced to Hevalaska. "Umm, 81% I think."

"So there's nothing wrong with your synchronization rate…" Mizuki thought. "You haven't activated your innocence, though, have you?" Eas shook her hear. "There! There's you're problem! You just need to synchronize with you're innocence once, and then it will be easy from then on. But how to do that?"

A whip suddenly appeared around Eas's neck, strangling her. "Wha?" She gasped, grabbing at the ropes. "That's easy." Seraphina smiled. "Just put her in a life threatening situation, and she should make it out alive. Why don't we just wait until something comes up on the way to Tiedoll, instead of wasting out time here."

Mizuki frowned. "We won't have time to teach her how to wield it, and besides, if you wanted to wait, why did you attack her with your whip?"

"Hmm, I was just wondering what she would do." Seraphina answered simply. They looked over to where Eas should have been standing; instead, her body was sprawled against the ground, twitching. A large pool of drool was collecting near her mouth.

"You might want to let her go now." Mizuki pointed out. "She might die."

"That may be just what she needs!" Seraphina grinned evilly.

"Yo, I'm pretty sure you can't activate you're innocence when you're passed out." Mizuki reminded her.

"Fine. Ruin all my fun!" Seraphina pouted, retracting her whip. "It is the right way to go though, exorcists usually learn better while under pressure."

They sipped at some juice as they waited for Eas to wake up. Teddy had long since abandoned them and was currently stalking Cloud Nine. When Eas opened her eyes, lying in the same place she had fainted in, she was pissed.

"Who the hell owns the whip?" She screamed. Seraphina held up her hand, unconcerned.

"I'm going to destroy you! You could have killed me!"

"But I didn't so it's ok, right?"

Eas looked around the room, angered. "Where's Teddy? I need something hard to throw!"

"Yeah, he went off to pry into General Cloud Nines room. I'd go fetch him if I were you. Her monkey isn't very fond of peeping toms." Seraphina smiled, ruthful. Eas scowled and ran after Teddy.

"She's going to hate you after this." Mizuki chuckled.

"Yup." Seraphina smiled, pulling on her whip.

Minutes later, Eas came back running, Teddy in hand. Her face was all red, and Teddy looked badly beaten. "Damnit, Teddy! That was horrible! She looked so scary as well, and that giant thing, it wasn't a monkey! I really hope that hurts!" She rubbed her head and exhaled. "Ok, let's start again. I'll have to get this right sooner of later."

Mizuki nodded. "Actually, where going to try a new tactic that may bring it out sooner." Both Seraphina and Mizuki stood up, assuming battle positions. Mizuki took out her bow and arrows while Seraphina unwound her whip. "Please don't hate us for this, were just trying to find a way to invoke your innocence." Mizuki pleaded.

"What, what are you guys doing?" Eas asked, on edge.

"We're going to show you what our innocence can do!" Seraphina smiled wickedly. "Innocence activate! Fouet cramoisy, lash out!" Her whip innocence assumed control of itself, growing to an uncharted length. She swung her arm back, then foreword, causing it to strike at Eas. She dodged out of the way, hitting the floor.

"What are you doing?" She screamed.

"Where doing whatever it takes to activate your innocence!" Mizuki answered, stringing a bow to her arrow and pointing it to Eas's direction.

"By killing me?" She asked, hysterical.

"If that's what it takes." Seraphina answered with a smile. She swung her arm back again, the Whip answering with a loud snapping sound as it lunged at Eas again. She scrambled to her feet, running from the whip. "Running wont help you!" Seraphina yelled at her. "Stand and fight!"

"I can't!" Eas cried out, ducking around a pillar as the whip struck at her again.

"Yes you can!" Mizuki sent an arrow flying, which plunged straight through the pillar Eas was hiding behind. It fell to pieces, leaving Eas unguarded. Mizuki strung another arrow and Seraphina recalled her whip for another attack.

"If you won't fight, we're going to kill you!" Seraphina yelled.

Eas shook her head. "Please! I don't think this is helping! I can't activate!" An arrow pierced her right cuff. "Please!" Eas screamed.

Mizuki strung her bow once more. "You'd better activate, or say goodbye to this world."

She let go of her arrow, aimed straight for Eas. Seraphina lashed her whip at the same time.

"Innocence, activate!" Eas screamed through her tears. She scrunched up her eyes, ready for the blow. She waited, cringing in fear, until finally she opened one of her eyes. Instead of impending doom, an army of toy soldiers blocked her view. A hole was seared through three of them just above where her heart would be. "Eh?"

"Alright!" Mizuki cheered. Seraphina exhaled in relief. "What kind of an innocence is that? You summoned toy soldiers? Their like 5 inches tall!"

Eas fell to the floor with a heave of relief. "Thank you all! You save me!" The remaining soldiers demounted from their toy shield and walked over to her, lining up in four straight lines. They saluted to her in unison, and then dissolved into the air, leaving Eas confused. Teddy crawled up to her, a face of sheer horror on his face. "They came out. They came right out of me!"

Eas turned to him, her confusion remaining. "What came out of you?"

"Those soldiers! They walked right out of me! It was the creepiest and most unsettling thing I have ever witnessed in my life!"

Eas giggled. "That's probably because you're my innocence. So it looks like I can command toys. That's a little strange, but I'm glad I have it."

"Ok! No time to rest! We must sharpen those techniques!" Mizuki shouted over to her. Eas groaned. "Can't we just take a break?" She asked, pooped.

"No way! We're leaving in two days; we have no time to waste!"

"Well, it looks like you can handle this, Mizuki." Seraphina waved. "I'm going to find the others, and get prepared for the mission." Mizuki nodded as she walked off.

"What's up?" Seraphina asked, walking over to the twins.

"Something's going on." Vasilisa replied.

"Komui said we shouldn't go down stairs." Alexandreina added, her head bowed.

"Why not? What's up?" Seraphina repeated, surprised by their solemn expressions.

"They've returned." Vasilisa sniffed, hiding her face behind a book.

"Who's returned?" Seraphina pressed.

"The ones who perished in the recent Akuma attacks. There's just so many!" Alexandreina finally looked Seraphina in the eye, her own eyes glistening with tears. "If only Komui had let us go, we could have done something, could have saved some of them."

Vasilisa rubbed her eyes from behind the book. "There are even exorcists there."

Alexandreina looked down again. "I'm sorry, you hung out with that squad so much, because of Kanda."

"What? What does that mean?" Seraphina felt agitated. This was not what she wanted to hear. She wanted to hide in a corner, open to none of this death.

"Who." She whispered, her own eyes glistening.

"Daisya." Sarra answered, appearing in the doorway. "Daisya Barry."

Seraphina whipped around to face Sarra, to make sure she wasn't lying. "No." The shimmering pool around her eyes discharged onto her white cheeks. Memories flushed through her head of the group and their adventures. Daisya was the jokester and loved to get in trouble. Still, he made it lively.

"No." Seraphina repeated, her mind rejecting the blatant truth.

"Yeah, one hundred forty deaths in total." Sarra's face was red and her cheeks were damp. "So many deaths in such little time."

"This is it." Vasilisa had set down her book, tears flowing in a constant stream down her face. "This is the Earls prologue."

"We're off!" The six girls waved to Komui as they boarded the gondola.

"Be safe!" Komui sniffed, waving a white handkerchief.

Seraphina sighed. "We're going off to war, how safe can he expect us to be?" She grumbled.

"He really cares for us, though." Sarra reminded her. "He's a good man."

They made their way via train until they reached china, where they checked in with Komui.

Mizuki had made the call. "Yeah, were at china's borders now, it should only take another day or two, where are the others?" She listened intently to the new information. "Suman? He became a what? Yes, I know what that is, but how? He was an exorcist! Oh, I understand, that's horrible! What was that? No way! Is he ok? The Asian branch? Should we stop by on out way there to check on him? Oh, ok. Yeah, I know. Alright. So we'll find another way of transportation I guess. What? You'll supply us with something? Ok, thanks. Yeah, I'll call you again once were ready to depart to Japan." She hung up the phone and turned back to the waiting girls as they lounged on a couch in the main entrance of a hotel they'd found.

"Ok, I've got lots of news, so we'd better get a room." Mizuki led the others to the receptionist. "Can we get to rooms?" She asked in the broken Chinese bookman had taught her on his spare time. The lady gave her two keys and pointed upstairs. The girls herded into one of the rooms, locking the door behind them. They all took positions on the two double beds, ready for Mizuki to elaborate.

"First of all, we need to hurry. The others have already begun their departure to Japan, though, not without casualties."

"What?" The girls gaped in shock.

"Well, apparently one of the exorcists, Suman, he was a friend of Johnny's I think, anyways, somehow how he got turned into a togaochi, one that forces a synchronization with little or no compatibility, I'm not really sure how to explain it, I've never witnessed one before. Anyways, apparently Allen tried to save him from what he was becoming; apparently his innocence was killing him, that's what happens to togaochi's. They use up all their energy destroying things, and then they die. Regardless, Allen was determined to save him, and he almost managed too, but Tyki got to him, and almost killed Allen."

Sarra let out a small squeak and covered her mouth with her hands, her eyes as wide as a deer's.

"Don't worry! He's being taken care of at the Asian branch, though his innocence is really messed up. Komui didn't give me the full details, but the main thing is that Allen's fine. Also, when we get to the sea between China and Japan, Komui's arranging an alternate way of transportation that will get us there quicker. I have no idea what that's going to be, so we'll have to wait until then to find out. Besides that, we're going to rest up here for the night and then finish our trek through china in the morning." She tossed Alexandreina the other key. She fumbled with it as the information sank in. "You, Vasilisa and Seraphina take the other room; us three will have this room. Be ready to depart before the sun rises tomorrow, ok?" The three nodded and slipped into their room. "Tomorrows going to be a long day." Mizuki sighed as she unfolded the covers of one bed. Eas and Sarra nodded.

"Goodnight."


	6. Black Starred Train

"Is everyone here?" Mizuki's voice was a whisper. It was still early and most of the hotels residences were sleeping.

"There's six of us, so that means we're all here." Seraphina pointed out.

Mizuki rolled her eyes. "Fine, let's go." The girls tip toed to the receptionist who took their key with a smile and quickly exited from the hotel. They had to run to the train station which was about three blocks from the hotel. They reached the station just as their train was taking off. The girls pushed through the crowd of people exiting the station and quickly leaped onto the train.

"Damnit!" Seraphina scowled as the train hurried farther away from her. Mizuki along with Sarra, the twins, and Eas who was resting on Mizuki's back since she wasn't able to catch a train yet, where all already standing on the back platform of the train. Seraphina pulled out her whip, untangling it from its bound state, and used it as a lasso, swinging it above her head to get speed. When she let go of it, the train was already far in the distance. Instead of ending where the length was appropriate, the whip stretched out, chasing the train until it was able to tie itself securely to the trains back railing. Seraphina amended a small smirk as her feet left the stations platform and quickly caught up to the train by reigning in her whip.

"You're a real cowboy now!" Mizuki teased as Seraphina pulled herself over the railing.

"Shut up, my stamina's not as good as yours, its better than having to take the next train."

"Yeah, I'm sorry I couldn't carry you, but my back was already taken by Eas." Seraphina glared at her. "Oh yeah! I guess you're a little big for piggy back rides!" Mizuki continued.

"You're dead!" Seraphina had untied her whip and was now preparing to throw Mizuki off the train.

"Oh, I guess this is my time to run, your stamina sucks, right? So it should be so very easy to out run you!" Mizuki ducked as Seraphina swung her left fist for her head and proceeded to run through the last corridor of the train. Seraphina's whip tangled around her ankle and Mizuki's face followed by the rest of her body smashed into the floor.

"Oh boy! Looks like I rallied up a big one!" Seraphina whistled. "Now's all that's left is too hog tie this sucker!"

Mizuki screamed for help as Seraphina bound her limbs behind her back. Unlucky for her, the freight was completely empty. No help was found until the twins journeyed back to see what was taking them. What they found made their mouths gape. Mizuki was lying on the floor, tears streaming down her face and a pained grin plastered on her mouth. Her arms and legs where bound tightly against her back. Seraphina was sitting a few seats down from Mizuki, her feet comfortably propped up onto the back of another seat, a newspaper in her hands. "Oh, so you've come to collect the load of useless meat over there?" Seraphina called back to the twins. Their gaping mouths twisted into a grin. They loved playing these games. It helped satisfy their boredom, and ease tense situations.

"Why yes we have!" Alexandreina started, stepping towards Mizuki.

"But we insist on getting paid for our labour!" Vasilisa added, holding out her hand.

"For this, I will gladly pay." Seraphina chuckled as she tossed a few coins in Vasilisa's direction.

"Thanks, this will get me another book at the next station." Vasilisa smiled as she grabbed the coins from the air and shoved them in her pocket. Alexandreina was already planning the best way to transport Mizuki. She decided on carrying her by her bound limbs. She took one side as Vasilisa grabbed the other. Seraphina tucked her newspaper under her left arm and proceeded to watch Vasilisa and Alexandreina heave Mizuki's bundled body through the corridor and into the next freight.

"Hey! Ok! Ok! That's enough guys! My back is cramping! I can walk on my own!" Mizuki protested through the second freight.

The twins laughed. "This bundle sure is loud!" Vasilisa shook her head.

"Yeah! Where'd you get this sucker?" Alexandreina continued.

"I rallied it up myself! It was a tough one, but I managed!" Seraphina chuckled evilly.

"It? You've reduced me to an it now?" Mizuki bellowed as they entered the third freight where Eas and Sarra sat. They peered over to see what all the commotion was about. Sarra gasped as the twins set Mizuki down and continued over to a bench where they watched the squirming Mizuki with semi-fascination.

"Get your innocence off of her!" Sarra ordered as Mizuki let out an exhausted plea of help.

Seraphina smiled warmly and held out her hand. "It'll cost ya!"

Sarra gave her a stern look but took out her change purse. "How much?"

"I lost some money to Vasilisa getting her here, so the same amount should be good, just a couple of coins."

Sarra tossed her a few coins and Seraphina happily untied her whip from around Mizuki. Her limbs stretched out along the narrow corridor as she popped her joints. "I hate you." Mizuki grumbled to Seraphina as she slowly rose to her feet.

"You asked for it." Seraphina shrugged as she sat down on the edge of a nearby bench.

Sarra held out her hand to Mizuki. "What?" Mizuki asked, looking at it.

"I want what I paid for you back, and some extra for my efforts!" Sarra glared up at her.

Mizuki sighed. "What ever, just don't blow your top, how's this?" She dumped a small amount of coins in Sarra's hand.

"Fine!" Sarra huffed, sliding the change into her purse and shoving it in her pocket again.

"You guys sure have an interesting relationship." Eas mumbled as she watched the exchange.

Sarra slid back beside Eas. "Yeah, we've known each other for a long time, so we're all practically sisters, well, except the twins, they really are sisters."

Eas smiled. "It seems like fun, to have so many friends that are girls. It's been a while since I've gotten to play with girls."

Sarra smiled. "I had sisters, so I've always been used to girls."

Eas nodded.

"Speaking of people," Alexandreina piped up. "I guess it just isn't a busy train, but isn't it weird that it's so empty?"

Vasilisa nodded. "When we where carrying Mizuki through the last couple of freights, they where completely empty.

Seraphina flipped through the paper she had picked up in the first freight, flipping through the pages. "Look here! It says there was a mass murder near here! Seems like a village nearby got completely demolished! I wonder if that has anything to do with the Togaochi Allen tried to save!"

"Your right!" Mizuki exclaimed. "The towns most definitely would have been affected. Komui said that the Togaochi wreaked havoc on the area, so that was most likely the case. People aren't coming because their all running away. Though the hotel seemed peaceful enough."

Alexandreina pulled Vasilisa up. "We'll go check the rest of the freights! Maybe there's someone here! I mean, there's got to be at least a conductor, and someone manning the engines!"

Seraphina nodded. "Just be careful, and use your golem if you have any problems."

Alexandreina nodded as she pulled Vasilisa through the doors to the next compartment leading to the front.

As they entered this compartment, they where yet again greeted with empty seats. They continued onwards until they had reached the fourth empty freight. The next freight was where the conductor would be. The twin's nodded to each other as they both took hold of the door, their innocence activated. They thrust open the door, ready to attack if necessary. A bearded man wearing overalls and a conductor's hat turned around from the dash board, his eyes steely. "Kids aren't aloud in here." He growled his face stern.

"Sorry! We were just wondering why the train was so empty!" Alexandreina apologized.

"It's probably because it's so early! Did ya ever think of that?" The conductor turned back to the front, shaking his head.

"Yeah, that seems right, sorry for intruding!" Vasilisa grabbed Alexandreina's arm and turned for the door.

"Since you're here though, you might as well stay." He turned around, an unsettling smile across his face.

"Nope! We'd better get back to our friends, their waiting for us." Vasilisa rushed as she tugged on Alexandreina to go.

"No really, I think you should stay!" The door to the empty freight slammed shut just as Vasilisa took a step towards it. She grabbed hold of the knob and tugged on it. Though the door trembled slightly, it did not open.

"Master Earl told me to wait until a certain point, but it's so hard to keep control of myself." On the conductor's forehead, a large black star formed. His eyes rolled and his body trembled, preparing to take its true form. "He shouldn't mind if a few die before then! You really shouldn't have opened that door, cuz you'll never come out again!"

Vasilisa dropped her hand from Alexandreina, who was already straining to attack. She cleared her voice in case she needed to back her sister up.

"You really chose the wrong girls to do this with!" Alexandreina smiled sweetly.

The conductor chuckled, his skin seeping off the level two Akuma. He had a large pointed hat on his head and a sharp pointed stick in one hand. He was slim with large baggy pants. His feet danced in anticipation as his nose became intoxicated by the smell of the exorcists. "Lets cast a hair raising spell on you, it's my favourite!" He danced around the cramped compartment, his hand twirling the stick around. "Hocus pokus, diddly doo, I'm going to slice and dice and chop up you!" He lunged at the twins, the blade aimed at Alexandreina. As he landed, he swung his stick in the direction of Alexandreina's heart with all his might. The blade smashed into something mettle as it rebounded out of the Akuma's hand. Alexandreina was holding up her right arm in a protective jester, four of the six bracelets she wore on both arms where now covering her hand in a metallic shield, a long, thick dagger protruded from her knuckles.

"This is my innocence!" She chimed. "And your death!" A dark smile crept over her mouth as her innocence lit up in a green glow. The Akuma backed away, startled momentarily by the transformation. Alexandreina took advantage of that moment and swung her dagger at it. The Akuma jumped back when he noticed her attack, gaining only a minor scratch on its exterior.

"Exorcist bitch, I'm gonna kill you for that!" It screamed. "Let's see how you like being sliced up!" Thin daggers appeared throughout the entire cabin, all pointed at the twins.

"You really aren't being a challenge." Alexandreina frowned. Her other hand invocated to look like the first. She leapt into the air as the daggers rained down on them. Easily, she sent them flying in small fragments to the train floor. "Is that all?"

"Nope!" The Akuma smiled. "Hokuz Pokus diddly dee train goes boom and all will be free!" The twins glanced at the ground as the fragments erupted in a sequence of explosions, sending everything flying. The girls landed, slightly burnt in the next compartment, the both walls separating the two were gone. All the windows where completely shattered and the wind howled from the space between the two freights.

"Owww!" Vasilisa slowly propped herself up, rubbing her head.

"Wow, didn't see that coming." Alexandreina was already on her feet, looking around for the missing Akuma. "You think it killed itself in the explosion?"

"Doubt it." Vasilisa shook her head. "Regardless, we'd better return to the others and warn them about the Akuma, where's the communications golem?"

Alexandreina shrugged. "It disappeared after the explosion. Maybe it got destroyed?"

"I don't think so, but we'll look for it later, right now we really need to get to the others."

Alexandreina nodded and helped Vasilisa up. They pushed open the door of the first compartment leading back but what they found was not the empty compartment they expected, but three level two Akuma's.

"What the, where on earth did they come from?" Alexandreina asked, shocked.

"Ha ha! It's time! It's time to kill you guys!" One of the Akuma's chimed.

"Wait, the one we were fighting before isn't here, where is he?" Vasilisa asked, assessing the Akuma.

"Ooohh! He's having fun with the others! Once we're done with you, we'll help him too!" A bulky Akuma drooled.

"As if!" Alexandreina lunged at the closest Akuma, the bulky one. Her blade dug into the Akuma and before a seconds thought, she ripped the blade through it, jumping on to the next Akuma. This one was prepared. It used its long tree like limbs as a shield when Alexandreina launched herself at him. The blade cut deep into the Akuma's limb, lodging itself tightly into it. The Akuma screaming and lashed out, knocking Alexandreina into a wall. Her blade stuck firm to its arm as it swung around in pain and deeply angered.

"Get off me you damn Exorcist!" It screamed as it smashed her into a window, smashing the glass around her body.

"Shit!" Alexandreina cussed, struggling to keep her smile. With a last effort the Akuma swung her into the third Akuma, who had been watching the incident with enjoyment. The three smashed through the wall leading to the next cabin, falling onto the small platform. Alexandreina squirmed from between the two slightly stunned Akuma. Her blade had loosened from the Akuma's struggle and she was able to pry it off of the Akuma's arm. She jumped back to the half demolished compartment, back to her sister.

"Are you ok?" Vasilisa asked, running over to her sister.

"Were where you when that Akuma was swinging me like a rag doll?" Alexandreina demanded, catching her breath.

"You never want me to help, so I just assumed you'd be fine, and it looks like you are!" Vasilisa retorted.

Alexandreina huffed. "It's not over. Mind helping me out now?" She smiled her award winning smile and Vasilisa knew she'd have to.

"Fine, but don't yell at me if it takes you're fun away."

Alexandreina nodded. Vasilisa walked towards the Akuma, who where struggling to stand, their limbs entwined in a reckless heap. She cleared her throat, activating her Innocence. Her lips parted slightly, then wider as she felt the rush of her innocence filling her lungs and rising through her throat. The sonic wave's echoing through her mouth was enough to shatter all the remaining glass in the compartment. The blast was targeted towards the two Akuma whose body's shook violently from the waves, their eyes spinning.

"What the hell was that?" One of the Akuma cried, holding it's head as it shook.

"My Innocence is my voice. I use a super sonic frequency to alter my pitch and use the sonic waves from my voice as a weapon against Akuma. It may not be enough to kill a level 2 Akuma yet, but you shouldn't be able to do much at the moment." She turned to a bench and sat back on it. "Ok, sis, it's all yours."

Alexandreina didn't hesitate too even thank her sister. She lunged at the half paralyzed Akuma, her blades raised.

As she landed lightly on her feet, the two Akuma fell in a heap. Their body's still trembling.

"We've got to find the others now!" Alexandreina called back to Vasilisa as she opened the next compartment.

"Why does everything have to be so complicated?" Vasilisa sighed as she followed her sister.


	7. Sarra's Wrath

"Vasilisa and Alexandreina sure are taking their time." Mizuki had her legs propped up on the back of the seat in front of her. Her head banging against the window.

Seraphina had resorted back to reading the rest of the paper and was currently absorbed into an advice column. "How stupid do you have to be to ask the news paper if they should leave their spouse? I mean if their being stupid get rid of them!" Mizuki nodded in agreement.

Sarra and Eas were playing cards. Eas was beside the compartment door, Sarra across from her. Eas was teaching her the basics of poker.

"I think you have to work out your problems!" Sarra objected.

"No, I agree with the others, if he's getting out of hand, ditch 'em." Eas nodded.

"Love's going to have tests and trials! How are you going to work over that if you can't learn forgiveness?" Sarra pointed out.

"If a man challenges me, I'll kick his ass." Mizuki concluded with a shrug. Seraphina snorted and Eas nodded with a smile. Sarra shook her head in disbelief.

Distant footsteps snapped Eas to attention. "Looks like the girls are back!" she called to the girls. They quieted their voices and strained their ears for the foot steps. Eas second guessed herself when she noticed once the cabin was quiet that their was only one set of steps. "Ummm, who else could be walking back here on an empty freight?" Eas asked hesitantly. The girls tensed with speculation.

"Who ever it is, their not welcome here." Seraphina glared at the compartment door, her whip out and ready.

The girls braced themselves as the footsteps stopped. Eas slid as close to the window as she could and slipped down on the bench to conceal herself. Sarra had her hand on her sling shot, prepared for any actions necessary. Mizuki even had her innocence invocated.

The door slid open with a desperate squeal. Wind escaped into the cabin and rustled the girls' hair. With a final, dramatic push, the door slammed completely open. The bulky overalls and cap accompanied a man around the age of forty, sporting a bushy beard and a steely gaze.

The girls sighed in relief as they assessed the intruder.

Seraphina stayed suspicious. "Where are our friends?" She asked with an accusing tone.

"Your friends?" The conductor thought. "Oh, you mean the kids that burst into the off limits section, bothering me about an empty train!"

"Those are the ones!" Mizuki laughed.

"Yeah, their talking to the others. We thought it kinda strange too, this is usually one of our busier hauls!" He continued.

The suspicion continued through Seraphina's speech. "Why are you here? Shouldn't you be conducting the train, or whatever you're job is?"

"Well, I came down to see if what the little lass's were saying was true! And it's being taken care of by one of my buds." He smiled at Seraphina, sure he'd trumped her.

Seraphina continued to glare at him, her suspicion not satisfied.

"So why are you fair ladies traveling so far this fine day?" He changed the subject, trying to ease the tension amidst in the air.

"I don't think that's any of your business." Seraphina answered coldly.

Sarra gave Seraphina a stern glance and smiled at the conductor. "We have an earand to run!"

The conductor smiled briefly in reply. "It must be a big errand to be running so far out here for, what is your destination?"

"Japan, I suppose. We're trying to catch up with some acquaintances!" Sarra revealed.

"You are? And are your acquaintances from the black order as well?" He pushed.

"This information is classified, conductor, and for you to press this matter while thoroughly knowing where we come from is prohibited." Seraphina sneered, annoyed.

"My apologies, miss, I was just curious!" He smiled at her. "No need to act like an Akuma!"

The light grew in the dim room, an eerie green illuminating the distrusting faces of the exorcists. Mizuki's bow was drawn back, arrow pointed at the conductor's chest. Seraphina's whip was pulled out and rested in a thin coil on the ground, her body unconsciously coiling with it into a battle stance. Sarra had her sling shot out, a marble shaped green glowing sphere in her other fist.

"Oops, did I say something wrong?" He asked, taking a step back, his eyes adjusting to the fierce glare.

"How do you know about the Akuma?" Mizuki asked her voice cold and sharp.

"Oh, so that's what set you off!" The conductor smiled.

"Tell us, if you don't want your head blown off!" Seraphina barked.

"And it would have been so much more fun if I could have fully earned your trust! Oh well, might as well have as much fun as I can before the others come." As he ended his sentence, his voice was no bigger than a whisper.

Sarra heard. "What?" Her hand jumped to her sling shot as his hand shot to her. His long, course arm wrapped around her neck before she could even load one marble. He yanked her up and held her in front of him as a shield.

As his thick arm strangled her, Sarra brought her hands to it, scratching at him to release her. She had dropped her sling shot and marble when he grabbed her. She hadn't accounted for that to happen so when it did she was taken fully by surprise.

"Let go of me!" She cried as she swung her body around, her feet were nearly half a meter above the ground.

"Ha! This is perfect!" The conductor screamed with joy. "Your so small, without you're innocence your nothing! I was lucky the weakest one was sitting so conveniently close to me!" He laughed, his egotistical side coming through.

Sarra stopped squirming, her fingers still shoved in his skin, revealing his armoured body. The conductor figured she had passed out and his confidence rose as his laugh escalated into near hysterics.

"What did you call me?" A whisper escaped from Sarra's lips, barely audible.

The akuma settled down as he sensed her ferocity. "Eh, what'd ya say, little exorcist?" He asked through giggles, bending his head down to look at her.

Sarra's long brown hair fell from her high pony tail in a dramatic sweep, covering her face and draping over her shoulders.

"I said," She began, louder.

"Are you crying? Did I hurt your feelings?" The Akuma smiled in delight, ignoring the fact that she spoke.

Her shoulders trembled slightly. "You EFING CALL ME SHORT?"

The Akuma cocked his head at her ferocity.

Sarra's head bolted back, to stare up at the Akuma, her face a blatant mix of loathing and extreme anger. "Did you just call me short?" She demanded.

The Akuma stared down at her, dumbstruck. "Yeah, why?"

Mizuki dismantled her arrow and sighed.

"What are you doing?" Seraphina whispered harshly to her.

"Did you hear what he called her? She'll take care of him, don't worry." She rested back on the opposite side of the seat, her butt on the edge so she could watch the match.

Sarra's foot launched itself into the crotch area of the Akuma, propelling herself foreword. He lost his grip on her as she did so, allowing her so fly forward, twisting in mid air and grabbing the edge of a bench to stop her.

Before the Akuma was able to reassert himself, Sarra launched herself at him, her boot smashing into his face, sending him through the door.

"Boot to face!" Mizuki cheered, delighted. She had pulled pom-poms out of no-where and was waving the neon coloured pom-poms around in a hyper motion.

Seraphina was crouched on the bench, facing them. Her whip was now held loosely in her hand as she felt no need to use it. "Sure. He calls her an assortment of weak and pathetic, and she takes offence to his _short_ comment." She shook her head with distaste.

Sarra was stomping on the Akuma, jumping up and down for extra effect while the two chatted about her strategies and tender spots. When she got tired of having little effect, Sarra popped out a marble from the long, narrow holder running up her leg. She had left her sling shot back in the cabin but felt no need to use it then.

"You think I'm a short little shrimp that can't reach the cookie jar without my mothers help, that wont ever attract a guy cuz I'd need a stool to kiss him, that I'm a small little big that you can only see with a magnifying glass, or an amoeba that you can't even see? You think I'm so small, do ya? Well, Mr., I'd like you top know that I'm a healthy "5, 0" The height many girls wish they were!"

She began chucking the marbles at him; his collapsed figure still sprawled between carts. She paid no attention to there abilities, wanting only to damage him as much as possible.

The marbles fell on him, activating their ability's on contact. Some exploded when they touched him, some merely stuck to him like a bur. Others acted like acid and others still had nearly no effect, meant to be used as more of a bullet then something to be merely thrown.

When the Akuma was nearly at it's limit, Sarra picked its head up, it hadn't gotten the chance to even transform yet, and whispered into his ear; "That's why you don't pick on the short and weak ones!"

With that, she chucked him over board, its body flying into a column and exploding with impressive volume.

After watching the explosion, Sarra promptly made her way back into the cabin where the others waited.

"Haha, you are one scary kid!" Mizuki chuckled, thoroughly satisfied by the entertainment.

"Shut up! I'm not a kid! I'm not small! I'm 18 for god's sake! I'm a woman! Damnit!" Sarra kicked the side of the bench and then collapsed back in it, tired from all the yelling.

"Wow." Seraphina concluded in amazement. Mizuki fell beck in hysterics from her fit.

"Don't worry," Eas whispered, getting up from her hiding place. "You're taller than me!"

Sarra frowned; her body sprawled across the bench, her chest heaving. "Yeah, but your like 14! I'm almost five years older than you!"

"Only four." Eas scowled at the thought of being any younger. "And I still look like I'm eight!"

Sarra smiled tentatively. "I guess were in the same boat then."

Eas giggled. "I guess so."

"Hey guys, it's nice to know you missed us!" Alexandreina walked through the open freight. Her face was slightly scraped and it looked like she'd been a tussle, but her face was what set everyone off edge. Though her smile was pasted on, as usual, those who knew her better could see her real emotions through her cover-up. And from what they could see, she was pissed.

"Haha, well we were a bit busy here, too." Mizuki defended them.

"Yeah, a very rude Akuma came barging in here only a few minutes ago!" Sarra exclaimed, sitting up, her own face still showing her annoyance.

"Oh, only one puny Akuma? We where battling 3!" Alexandreina smiled a sweet but deadly smile, her voice full of tension.

"Hey, I thought you loved fighting Akuma!" Seraphina pointed out, returning to her paper.

"True, but one was really annoying so I guess it didn't relieve as much stress as I thought it would, regardless, I got my revenge." Her voice chimed with disturbing blood thirst.

Vasilisa sat down on one of the benches, exhausted. She hung her arms over the back of her seat and rested her head on the crease in her arm. The contrast of the cold steel and soft padding relaxed her and the tension built up from the fight quickly melted along with any needs to move.

"I don't mean to be the burden of bad news, but all the people running the train are kind of disposed of, and I can't imagine the train will reach our destination without them." Alexandreina pointed out when she settled herself.

"Yeah, that's not the best news I've heard." Mizuki chuckled as she slumped back in her chair.

"Unless there are obstacles in our way, I can't imagine any need to panic. We'll just have to prepare for a possible long walk to the closest village when it runs out of steam." Seraphina mused.

Vasilisa pondered this. "We're in the country though, I can't imagine their wont be cattle crossings along the way, and I don't believe any of us know how to ride a train…"

Alexandreina nodded in thought. "There is that possibility."

"Or maybe the Akuma have set a trap for the train by building up a coming tunnel with explosives." Eas offered. The others looked over to her, their faces a mixture of disbelief, curiosity and hilarity. Eas was staring intently out the window, her eyes locked to the front of the train.

"What did you say?" Sarra asked, her face confused.

"Well, I don't think I'm imagining it, but it looks like way down there at the cliff face, theirs a bunch of boxes stacked across the tracks." Eas pointed in the direction she was looking. The gang quickly crowded around her, pulling down the windows to get a better look. Sure enough, what she had said was true. About three crates blocked the trains entrance to the tunnel.

"Wow, ok then, though we don't necessarily know what's in those crates, I think we can make a safe bet that it's not good." Alexandreina concluded.

"Time to pack!" Mizuki sang.

The girls loaded their small packs and ran to the back of the train. The tracks were disappearing with great speed as the girls hesitated to jump.

"Wow, the trains going pretty fast." Eas pointed out, her arms slung across Mizuki's shoulders and her legs hooked around her waist.

"We'll be fine." Sarra smiled, though her tone was off.

"We've got no time to ponder!" Seraphina scolded. "We've got to get off this train now!"

The girls nodded together, and at the same time, they leaped off the train, sailing through the air and with no grace, tumbling to the ground.

As the girls regained their balance, Mizuki nodded, brushing herself off. "That was pretty skilled. I feel like a cowboy!"

The others looked at her questioningly and she shrugged her shoulders. "They're western thieves. Kinda."

The train ran dead to the horizon, bustling straight for the boxes.

"The explosion wouldn't reach us from here, right?" Eas asked worried.

"Nah, it'll be far away enough that we'll be fine." Mizuki smiled.

As the train collided with the boxes, an array of light erupted from its point, momentarily blinding the scene. Small red cylinders flew in all directions, colourful sparks following them. The train bustled through, mostly unharmed.

"What was that?" Eas asked, in awe.

A cylinder landed close to Seraphina so she bent down and retrieved it for inspection. "Hmm, weird, this looks just like one of Komui's useless creations. He made this enclosed capsule filled with gun powder and who-knows-what. When he lit it, it would fly into the air spewing colourful sparks. I think he called them _cracking fire_ or something."

The girls nodded in wonder.

"That sounds like a great creation!" Mizuki cheered, thinking of the possibility's it could posses.

"So on a separate note; do we know where the next village is?" Sarra asked, looking around.

"Well, in the paper it lists the general areas surrounding that town, and if I estimate our distance to be maybe seventy miles away, possibly, then there should be a fairly large village to the right of here. If we just keep walking, I imagine we'll find it eventually." Seraphina concluded, taking out her badly abused paper.

"Wow, that paper has everything!" Alexandreina announced in amazement.

"It is oddly thorough." Seraphina confirmed.

"Ok! Time to set off for the long quest!" Mizuki pointed in the general direction they were to walk.

"Yeah, sorry, I didn't know it would be that stuff, and not explosives." Eas apologized.

"No need, we'd have had to get off at one point or another anyways." Sarra reminded her.

The girls hurried through the vegetation and in the general direction of the town. Before too long, they came across a rather large hill, in which it took a good chunk of their time climbing. When they were about three quarters up the hill, they sat to rest. The sun was already low in the sky. They took out some of the food they had saved for the trip, some biscuits and water.

"I don't think we'll ever get there!" Sarra complained, sprawling out on the thick grass.

"We're so late!" Mizuki groaned.

"Wow, even I have no desire to do anything!" Alexandreina gasped. Vasilisa was on the verge of slumber as she lay back on the grass beside her sister.

"I wonder how much further we have." Mizuki contemplated, looking at the rest of the hill.

"I have no idea." Seraphina replied, a canister plastered across her forehead.

"I suppose it's time to get back up." Mizuki sighed, pushing herself off the ground. "We need to get there before nightfall, at the very least."

"Your right, it wouldn't be wise to sleep out here." Sarra agreed.

"C'mon sis, we need to keep going." Alexandreina tugged at Vasilisa's arm as she lay limp.

"No! Just leave me! I don't care if I die out here! Just let me sleep!" She replied.

"No. You have to get your butt up here and walk just like the rest of us!" Alexandreina demanded.

"Nooo! I'll only slow you down!" Vasilisa cried.

"Get up! You're so lazy!" Alexandreina whined, yanking hard at her arm.

"I am lazy! That's me! Lazy Vasilisa!" She announced, her eyes now open and glaring at  
Alexandreina.

"At least you understand that. Now get up." She said with one last yank.

"Fine." Vasilisa pouted, standing up and trudging towards the peak.

As they reached the peak of the hill, the girls collapsed in exhaustion.

"If I have to take one more step, I'm going to faint." Sarra cried her face to the ground.

"I don't care about wolves, or Akuma, let them come! I just wanna sleep!" Vasilisa whimpered.

"Haha, it looks like that may not have to be a necessity." Mizuki laughed.

"Why?" Seraphina growled. Mizuki pointed at the base of the hill, where a small complex on the outskirts of a much larger village sat.

"Oh thank god!" Alexandreina smiled, tugging at Vasilisa's hand once more. "Time to go, sis. The town is just a slide away." When Vasilisa refused to move, instead of screaming at her, Alexandreina merely pulled her to the edge of the hill and let gravity take its toll, pulling the girls down to its base. The others followed promptly.

Getting a carriage wasn't a hard thing. It was deciding whether to carry on, or spend the night that was the challenge. After they were properly fed and briefly rested, the girls regained the sense to decide which to take. Of the votes, the surprising majority was to continue the trek. Of that majority, two were of dutiful minds, one of a selfish, personal mind, and the other merely a sensible one. The others consisted of the other two, who decided not to vote since they where fast asleep. That being Eas and Vasilisa, who ended up slumped across one side of the carriage as it rode to the train station.

Luckily for the girls, they reached the train at a suitable boarding time, allowing them access to a separate compartment to themselves. As Eas and Vasilisa slept soundly beside them, the girls addressed the situation.

"It seams we'll be a bit later getting there, but we should have expected that. We do need to hurry to Tiedolls group, but we need not go to extreme lengths. I believe we should have enough time to rest a night before leaving, besides, whatever Komui has set up for us will likely need preparation. Or even re-thinking." Mizuki relayed to the girls. They nodded in agreement, especially to the last part.

"How many days do you suppose it will take?" Sarra asked.

"Well, it will take at least four days by boat, which is what I assume we'll be taking. Also, if we take a night to rest, I assume it will take at least five days to get there. The others will most likely be there and Tiedolls group may already be far within the boundaries of Japan. We'll know when were within a ten mile radius of them." Mizuki answered.

"So regardless, we have a long ways to go until we find the others, and we may not be of any use at all." Seraphina groaned.

"That seems about right." Mizuki sighed, adjusting herself to a more comfortable position. "This is going to be a tight mission, all determined by time, and luck."

"It's a good thing we're all fairly lucky." Alexandreina laughed. "We'd be sunk otherwise."

"Poor Allen." Sarra was reminded of her injured companion who inevitably had no luck what-so-ever.

"Poor us! We may never get to see the battle field!" Alexandreina cried, waving her arms to relay the importance of her statement.

"We may be too late to help our comrades." Seraphina whispered; her stomach dropping at the thought.

"We'll be fine!" Mizuki reassured them, holding her hands up. "There's no use brooding over it!"

"You're right, let's just see how this plays out." Sarra nodded.

"Vasilisa, Eas, c'mon guys! We can't carry you! You're going to have to wake up! Hey we're here!" Sarra and Mizuki were shaking the two girls as the train slowed to the station. The others were ready to go, waiting at the cabin's door.

"Seriously, guys! You need to wake up!" Mizuki shouted at them. Before she could blink, Alexandreina was in front of her, Seraphina's rolled up newspaper in her hand, and who identical smack marks across the two sleeping faces. While Mizuki regained her sense of thought, Alexandreina was having fun, smashing the newspaper into the girls heads repetitively until their sleepy eyes adjusted to their tormenter.

"What do you think you're doing?" Vasilisa asked, catching the newspaper when Alexandreina tried to hit her one more time.

"Waking you up. You guys were dead to the world." Alexandreina smiled in response.

"So you decide to wake us by beating us maliciously with a newspaper?" Vasilisa growled, slightly annoyed that she had been woken.

"Yup."

The two girls screamed, one in anger, one in delight as Vasilisa quickly tackled Alexandreina to the ground. When Alexandreina found an opportunity to run, she quickly bolted for the door, closely followed by Vasilisa.

"Well, I guess we don't have to worry about them now." Seraphina shrugged.

Mizuki piggy backed Eas, who had fallen back asleep, onto the plat form.

Once the girls found a suitable hotel, they checked in, and headed straight for their rooms. Once Mizuki was free of Eas, her first notion was to call Komui. The others reserved a placing at a restaurant within the hotel, and waited while Mizuki hooked up her Golem.

"Hello, Komui? We're finally here. Yeah, we got held back at the last station, sorry. We've chosen to stay the night here, we're too exhausted and we'll operate better after we're rested. Have you found a way across the sea? Ok. The Harbour? How about dawn, we need an early start if we want to catch up." Her mouth cracked into a grin with his response. "Three days is impossible." She responded sharply. "We're not going to be some Guiney pigs for one of your experiments! No, I don't happen to care if it saves us time, I'd rather not risk my life, thank you! Fine, we'll try. I'll call you if we have any complications. Bye." She hung up the receiver and detached her Golem, shaking her head. Once she had joined the group, she relayed the information.

"So Komui's got a solution to our time problem, but I can't say it won't be dangerous. He seems to be pretty proud of it, which can never be good."

"What do you mean, we're not going to get there by boat?" Seraphina asked, sceptical.

"I don't know how we're going to get there, but Komui says he's got us covered, and if he can save us two days, then I'll put one of his experiments into consideration." Mizuki finished.

"So when can we set sail, or whatever it is we're going to do?" Alexandreina asked, calculating it in her head.

"Around dawn, we'll be getting a full day in." Mizuki concluded.

"Sounds good." Seraphina nodded, flipping through her order once more.


	8. Komurin

The thin mist settled over the morning dew as the exorcists bundled up for their trek to the harbour. The sun was settled just above the horizon, setting everything in an orangey glow. Without a word, the girls trudged sleepily to their destination.

Though it was early, the harbour was crowded with people exchanging fish and other creatures for the sea. A proud Chinese man was showing off a four foot catch he had snagged that morning.

As they waded through the market, its fishy stench nearly overwhelming, they caught sight of an even larger crowd near the bay. Vasilisa nearly toppled over when a few of the village children brushed past her on their way to investigate the crowd.

"What do you thinks' over there?" Alexandreina asked rubbing her eyes.

"Our ride." Mizuki addressed.

The girls pushed their way through the crowd, earning grunts and slips of unintelligible profanity. When they finally broke through the crowd, they got their first eye full of what had the crowd memorized.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" Seraphina growled.

"Didn't Lenalee destroy all of them?" Sarra asked, astonished.

"What's that?" Eas asked.

"Komurin." The girls answered in unison, their voices all of distaste.

"Komurin five, to be exact!" A voice chimed from the large robot.

The crowd erupted into an exited babble, all shocked by the strange visitor.

"Oh wow! You've made some improvements!" Alexandreina pointed out, the astonishment in her voice slightly mulled by unwavering distrust for the over sized hunk of metal.

"Yeah well, Reever wont let me leave the order but I needed to instruct you on how to use him, so I created this speaker, see? It's just like komurin is really speaking!" Komui sang joyously.

"Yeah, sure, anyways, how is this thing going to get us to Japan?" Seraphina asked, speculative and to the point.

"Ohh! Well, Komurin five has been developed with a whole jumble of new gadgets designed for this trek! We don't have the time to learn the whole make up of him right now, so I'll just tell you how to get him started and control him."

"You mean, were going to RIDE him?" Mizuki asked, astonished.

"But of course! How else do you suppose you would get there?" Komui chimed. "Anyways, at the bottom of his leg he has a small control panel. If you hit the yellow button, he should transform into something of a motorized boat."

"I have got to see this." Mizuki was the one to approach the robot. Once she was at the robots ankle, the water sloshing at her knees, she found the open panel. "Should I stand back?" She asked, uncertainty clouding her excitement.

"Just click the button, and then run back to shore as quickly as possible. You should be fine." He answered his voice hardly reassuring.

"Great." Mizuki sighed. Her finger rested a centimetre away from the button, shaking with anticipation. Finally, after Seraphina felt the need to scream at her to get on with it, the tip of her finger shoved the large yellow button.

The robot lit up, a large rumbling sound emanating from its core. Mizuki freaked, launching herself for the beach, but finding herself face down half way up the shore line. She scrambled to the others as the robot shifted itself in awkward and confusing poses, contorting itself until it was no longer two stories high, but on the water line, its large shape moulded into one of a very complicated metal boat.

Komui's voice interrupted the brief silence with a sound of victory. "Isn't it wonderful? My best work!" His gleeful voice encouraged the others enthusiasm.

"Wow, this might actually work." Vasilisa thought in awe.

"Can it travel across an ocean though?" Seraphina pointed out, no confidence in Komui's creation. She had had a few bad runs with Komui's creations, and she felt the need to criticize his every work.

"It will get you there, no problem! And with it's advanced technological improvements that shouldn't be around for centuries more, it will get you there in almost half the time it would regularly take you!" his voice burst with love for his creation.

"Works for me." Mizuki shrugged, walking over to the steel boarding plank that was settled beside Komourin's large head, or the nose of the boat. The others fallowed after a few more speculations. They figured they could always use the wooden escape boat if it went wacky like the others had.

"Let's ban coffee from the ship." Sarra suggested, thinking of the other times Komurin had ingested coffee. The others agreed.

When they where set to leave, Komui returned to the intercom. "Alrighty then! Komurin five is already set in its course, so all you have to do is get it started. Mizuki, since you pushed the button, can you also pull the black lever next to the wheel? Now the wheel is only meant for emergencies in case something is in the way of the path, or something happens to Komourin's controls."

Mizuki nodded, sliding her hand over the wheel briefly, and then moving onto the lever. "I just push it down?" She asked, hesitant again.

"Yes, then its feet will act as propellers and bring Komurin five into motion!"

Mizuki's hand tightened its grip on the lever and with one last breath, she slammed it down. A loud rumbling escaped from the back of the boat as the propellers started. With a sudden jerk that sent everyone flying, Komurin five was off, at incredibly high speeds towards Japan.

"Why is this thing so damn fast?" Seraphina moaned her stomach flipping.

"Why is it so loud?" Vasilisa cried, her head perched against Komourin's rattling frame, a book settled across her forehead.

"Do you guys want to catch up with the others?" Mizuki questioned.

"Yeah." They groaned.

"Then deal with it!" Alexandreina smiled. The two shut up, though Seraphina ran to Komourin's side a few times to add to the ocean.

Out of Komourin's make up, the deck and haul of it looked like a rather normal boat with an odd colour and material. Below the deck, and the nose of the ship, however reminded everyone they were, indeed riding a giant robot. Komourin's head and shoulders cut through the waves, it's feet propelling it foreword from it rear. The inside consisted of a small kitchen, an infirmary, and six bed rooms with two cots in each, a dining hall and a ballroom. The staff consisted solely of the exorcists, and Komui's voice.

"What are we going to do for three days?" Alexandreina asked; her need to always do something was over riding her controls.

"I have no idea, living together for three days is going to be hard enough, trying to find something to do on a robot ship is ridiculous." Seraphina replied, a sarcastic smile pasted on her face.

"Oh come on, it's not like we haven't spent the last month lazing around the order! We can last three days on a boat!" Mizuki exclaimed, disapproving negative thoughts so early in the day.

"If my stomach doesn't settle, I won't be able to last three more minutes." Seraphina sighed, leaning back on her chair.

"Yeah, Vasilisa and I just got back from a mission; too, we're not good at lazing around." Alexandreina added.

"Nope! I'm fine with lazing! Lazing is good with me!" Vasilisa corrected her.

"Regardless, we can find stuff to do. It's a little hard to fish, but we can play some board games or cards, we can bake, or read, or chat, see, there's lots of things we can do!" Mizuki proposed, determined.

Alexandreina stopped fidgeting and looked up at Mizuki. "You know what? Your right! I'm sure there are lots of things we can do! In fact, let's play some games right now! We're going to make the best out of our free time!"

Mizuki nodded in agreement; glad she could lift some of the negativity from the ship.

"Let's round everyone up right now and have a games day! I've picked up a million things we can do!" Alexandreina continued.

"Sure, I'll grab Sarra and Eas; you get the others to the dining hall, that's our meeting place." Mizuki called back, already half way down the hall.

"Sounds good!" Alexandreina answered back. Once she was out of sight, Alexandreina turned to the others, an evil smile plastered across her face. "Now you two are going to cooperate, and you're going to cooperate good, ya hear?" Seraphina and Vasilisa both nodded, with fear of what would come if they objected.

The dining room seemed empty and haunted with only the six of them present, since they were used to the always bustling cafeteria of the Black order. A stack of miscellaneous board and card games stood at an uncomfortable angle beside Sarra. Alexandreina was setting up a deck of cards, assorting them into two different piles and separating the four kings from the rest.

Let's play a game! She sang, her voice bursting with enthusiasm.

"What kind of game?" Vasilisa asked with suspicion. The kind of games Alexandreina liked to play where usually not normal, or possibly legal.

"Oh, it's just this fun fortune game! It's my own twist of Tarot cards!" Alexandreina continued.

"What kind of fortune does it tell?" Sarra pressed, interested.

"They're perfect match fortunes!"

The girls looked at her with stern eyes.

"Oh come on! It's just a game! We'll have fun, don't worry!" she pleaded, hoping not to lose their interest.

"Fine." They agreed.

"Great! So who's first?" Alexandreina smiled, shuffling the extra cards in her hand.

"I'll take it! Sounds fun!" Mizuki smiled, always up for a challenge.

"Alright! So I need you to pick four guys, of those guys, there must be one you love, or like the most, anyways, and one you hate. This is a matching game, so relatives and such are not really promoted."

Mizuki nodded. "Ok, well, in no complete order, the four I guess I would chose Lavi, Allen, Kanda, and Komui."

Sarra smiled. "Wow, defiantly not in any particular order." Mizuki scowled at her.

"Ok! So the king of spades will be Kanda, clubs will be Komui, diamonds will be Allen, and hearts will be Lavi. Now, I need some questions from the rest of you. Good ones please."

"How about, if that person was on a date with Mizuki, which one would be most likely to bring flowers?" Sarra asked, starting with a lover question right off the bat.

Alexandreina smiled and pulled out a card. "Haha, looks like Allen's the gentlemanly type." She laughed, placing the card under the diamond king. Sarra blushed while Mizuki chuckled under her breath.

"Didn't we already know he was?" She asked.

"True, anyways, onto the next question." Alexandreina prompted.

"Who's a bad cook?" Vasilisa asked, curious.

Alexandreina pulled out the next card in her deck and smiled. "This isn't exactly surprising, I can see this." She set the card under the Spade and pressed for another question.

"Who likes Mizuki the most?" Eas asked, oblivious.

Alexandreina held back the laughter building up in her chest as she peered at the card she had pulled out. "Wow. I wonder by how much." Was all she was able to say as she set the card beside the king of clubs, Komui's' card.

The girls with the exception of Mizuki and Eas; who new nothing of Mizuki's interests burst into a round of laughter.

"Ok, ok, that's enough; can we get it over with?" Mizuki asked, her temper rising slightly.

"Sure, ok, so now that we have that done, we can find out the important stuff. First, who are you going to buy a dog with?" She pulled out a card from the pile she had set away, placing it beside Komui's card. "Wow, looks like he's pretty popular." She teased, and then moved on after she assessed Mizuki's patience. "Ok, now who are you going to live with?" She pulled out the second card, and laid it beside Kanda. "Well, until the earl is defeated, the order will be your home, and Kanda is one of the most permanent residences…" Alexandreina trailed off before she could inflict any more damage to Mizuki's ego.

"Great! I'm going to buy a dog with Komui, who loves me the very most, and I'm going to live with Kanda, the grouch." Mizuki groaned, hitting her head on the table, and leaving it there.

"But that's not all! We still have marriage! Umm, and you're going to marry…" She pulled out a card, hoping for one specific person. When she noticed the little red symbol, she set it down with great relief. "And what counts the most! You are going to marry….Lavi!"

Mizuki looked etched out of stone as her head lay on the table. Sarra and Alexandreina smiled at her knowingly, understanding the reason why she didn't lift her head.

"Ok, there's more to the game, but we have so many more people that I want to get to, so I'm going to skip the last part. Instead, I believe its Vasilisa's turn, if were going across the table. Plus, I really want to read your future."

Vasilisa groaned and set down the book she was reading. "Fine. I chose Johnny from the science department, Reever from the science department, and I guess that Krowley guy's pretty entertaining too."

"You only have three, and you haven't chosen anyone you like yet!" Alexandreina scolded her.

"Yeah, but I don't really have anyone I care about." Vasilisa sighed.

"What about that Debitto guy or whatever?"

"From that truth or dare thing? I only chose him because I thought he was kind of hot. He's a Noah though, so the whole marriage thing could never work out." Vasilisa reminded her.

"Awww, whatever, I'll figure something out for the marriage one." Alexandreina shrugged.

"Ok fine." Vasilisa opened her book again and continued from where she had left off.

"Alright then, Johnny is clubs, Reever is diamonds, Krowley will be hearts, and Debitto will be Spades! Now, like last time, we need questions." Alexandreina smiled.

"Who's the most passionate?" Mizuki asked.

Alexandreina laid a card next too the king of hearts. "Krowley!" She laughed.

"Who would die for Vasilisa?" Sarra sighed, her thoughts on a beautiful romance.

"Reever!" Alexandreina cried with hilarity.

"Who would be the most likely to make Vasilisa happy?" Eas questioned.

"Johnny!" Alexandreina couldn't even put the card down because her laughter had forced her into a cramped ball on the bench.

"Ok, ok, can we continue now?" Vasilisa asked with annoyance.

"One more." Sarra pleaded. "Who's the bluntest? You need someone who will speak their mind."

Alexandreina recovered herself enough to pull the next card, but toppled over once more when she read the person. Vasilisa peered over to the card and groaned. "Debitto." She announced.

Alexandreina straitened herself promptly after to finish the set. She took the cards she had set to the side after she had shuffled. "Ok, different questions, umm, whose going to buy you a new outfit?" Again she took a card from the other pile. "Oh, I guess this actually makes a lot of sense. Johnny will buy you, or most likely make you, a new outfit. Next, who are you going to be stuck on a ship with?"

"What gave you that idea?" Seraphina asked, sarcastically.

"Whatever, you got Krowley. You're going to have to sail on a ship with another exorcist. How anti climactic. Alright, last one, since you may not be able to marry him, how about who will you have a mad love affair with?" She laughed at Vasilisa's annoyed expression as she pulled out the card. "Alright! Our little Vasilisa's going to go Gaga over Debitto!"

Vasilisa shoved her head inside her book, trying to ignore Alexandreina as best she could.

"OK! Next is Sarra! Four guys please!" Alexandreina asked, reshuffling the deck.

"Alright, well, umm, there's Kanda, and Komui, and Lavi, and umm, Allen." She announced.

"Great! Allen can be diamonds for him again, cuz I like it like that, and Kanda for spades, Lavi might as well stay as hearts and Komui as clubs. Let's get the questions rolling!"

"Whose favourite date is a walk by the beach?!" Mizuki screamed in excitement.

"Komui!" Alexandreina coughed with surprise.

"Who loves a short girl?" Seraphina suggested, earning a glare from Sarra.

"Wow, Lavi does!" Alexandreina noted, surprised.

"Figures, he'll chase anything feminine." Mizuki laughed.

"What about, who would cheer her up when she's sad?" Eas asked.

"Oh, that's Allen." Alexandreina called, placing the card bellow he king of diamonds.

"And, umm, who would be most likely to play a more feminine role in a marriage?" Seraphina thought.

"Yeah, no big shocker, I think I've seen him in the kitchen with Jerry a couple of times before." Alexandreina placed the card next to Komui's king.

"Ok, so now, resorting back to regular order, who will you buy a dog with?" She picked up the alternate deck and shuffled it around for extra effect before picking a card. "Looks like Johnny's going to help you out there! And you're going to live with…Komui, how unoriginal. And last but not least, the best in show, lets continue that winning streak ladies! The one you will marry will be… And we have a winner! Johnny will be your lucky man!"

Sarra gasped, her eyes bulging. "What?"

Alexandreina soaked in her surprise and defeat for a few more seconds before letting a giggle escape from her lips. "Kidding! You get Walker, of course!"

Sarra let out her breath in relief, giving Alexandreina a quick glare for tricking her and flushing red from overreacting.

As she shuffled Alexandreina eyed Seraphina.

Seraphina noted her bug eye and sighed. "Fine, Kanda, General Cross, don't ask, anyways, umm, Reever, and someone I absolutely cannot stand, Komui, again."

Alexandreina nodded with a wide grin. "And we begin. Kanda can stay as the spade, cross is now the diamond, Reever is the club and Komui can be the heart, since we all can see how much you love him!"

Seraphina rolled her eyes and cuffed her jaw, waiting for the absurd questions to begin.

"Ok, first off, who is Seraphina's best match?" Vasilisa asked, taking an interest in these pairings.

"Wow, right off the bat, Kanda!" Alexandreina cheered, setting the card down on the spade king.

"Ok, now, who is the most straight foreword? You need a man that speaks his mind too!" Sarra suggested.

Alexandreina pulled another card off the deck and smiled. "Looks like Kanda's a right popular guy!" She laughed.

"Alright, who's the most likely to make Seraphina happy? That's what's most important!" Mizuki laughed. "Or who ever will wade on her on hands and knees."

"I'm not that demonic! I think I get along rather well with mostly everyone." Seraphina corrected her sharply. Mizuki took her statement as a false interpretation of herself, laughing until her sides hurt.

"Ok, ok," Mizuki interjected swiftly thereafter. "Let's finish this. One more question."

"Oh! How about who is the most powerful?" Vasilisa asked, liking the idea of a powerful or rich man.

"Oh, well that breaks Kanda's streak!" Mizuki joked, sliding swiftly away from Seraphina to avoid her death glare.

"Wow, actually, your right, General Cross earns this card!" Alexandreina placed the card on Cross's and reached for the other deck. " Ok, so getting on with this, you're going to buy a dog with, Reever, you're going to live with, Komui, and You're going to marry, Cross," Seraphina sputtered and looked at her with a puzzled and disgusted face. "I'm just kidding, Seraphina, you get Kanda, don't worry." She quickly slid the first card she had picked up under the second, placing the now Spade card over Kanda. _Who says I don't think of others._ She thought, collecting the cards with a slight chuckle.

"Ok! Eas, your turn!" Alexandreina scanned the table, searching for the youngest of the group. When she finally noticed the empty space where Eas should have been, she asked; "Where's Eas?"

Mizuki shrugged, looking around the room. "I didn't even know she left."

Sarra shook her head. "She said she was hungry so she went to the kitchen."

"Well we can't continue the game without her! It's her turn!" Alexandreina huffed.

"Honestly, I don't think she was that interested." Mizuki replied casually. "I think she's still a little young to be thinking about stuff like love."

"Nonsense!" Alexandreina protested. "You're never too young to feel the pounding your heart makes when you fall in love!"

Vasilisa rolled her eyes, though she never looked up, flipping to the next page of her already almost finished book.

"Mmm, I'm kind off hungry too." Mizuki thought, rubbing her exposed stomach, her vest only reaching half way down her front, leaving a good stretch of bare skin before her small skirt.

"I wouldn't mind a bite to eat." Sarra continued, forgetting the game completely.

"Actually, same here." Alexandreina spoke, surprised by it.

"It must be past noon." Vasilisa commented, setting down her finished book.

The girls headed into the kitchen from which they heard a loud, unsettling grounding noise. The girls peered in hesitantly, confused and curious about the sound. As their vision adjusted to the bright light filtering through the open windows, they were able to make out the shape of a person mixing something. When they were finally able to focus, Eas finally came into view. Her long sleeves were rolled up, the little lace cuff that matched her previous cloths making a ring around her elbow. Her short caramel blonde hair was up in small pigtails, out of her face, and her collar was down from the heat of the blazing oven. The mysterious contents of the bowl in her arms smelled of raw dough.

Eas very rarely sang, since her cough usually acted up, and she wasn't a very good singer in the first place, but since she had been given the medicine she needed, she no longer needed to wear her mask, also allowing her to do things like sing again. She found herself humming to a tune her mother used to sing her, caught up in the rhythm created by the whisk churning the dough.

Her rhythm fell short as her eyes met with the peeping girls. They flashed panic momentarily then turned back to the calm it had before. Her lips curled up into a grin as she lifted her whisk from the batter, licking the top of it. "Would anyone like to help me make some gingerbread cookies?" She asked, inviting the girls into the sweltering kitchen. The girls shrugged and went to her side. "The batter's just about ready, so now we can shape them into what ever we like. The traditional look of the gingerbread cookie is usually in the shape of a man, but its fun creating different shapes, too." She added, scooping out a glob of dough and slapping it down on a metal baking tray. She took hold of the dough, packing it down onto the sheet. When it was only a half centimetre thick Eas took out a knife, carving into the soft dough. When she was done, she collected a multitude of snacks from the cupboard. She applied chocolate to the curly hair, and blueberry's for the glasses. For the cigarette she applied icing.

"This is my friend Tyki!" She laughed at the makeshift head of her friend. "You see? You can make just about anything you want from this! Wanna try?" She held out the batter to the girls, who received it with enthusiasm.

While Eas grabbed another tray, the girls contemplated what to make.

"I'm making Vasilisa!" Alexandreina called.

"I'd better not look bad!" Vasilisa groaned.

"Then why don't you make me, and then with our exceptional talent, we will be even!" Alexandreina suggested.

"Fine, but don't expect it to be a masterpiece." Vasilisa sighed.

"Oh! I'm going to make bookman and give him giant panda ears!" Mizuki laughed.

"Then you'll have to make Lavi with ears as the follow up, he is bookman's successor after all." Sarra suggested.

"Excellent!" Mizuki smiled, scraping out some dough with her hands and kneading it onto the pan.

"I'll make Komui just so I can tear him limb from limb." Seraphina plotted.

"You really are against that guy, aren't you." Mizuki laughed.

"He once died my hair green with one of his wonky experiments. I have never been able to forgive him since." She replied hotly.

"What about you, Sarra? Who are you going to make?" Mizuki asked.

"Umm, well I was thinking about a bunny, or a dog, or maybe Allen…" She mumbled the last words.

"What'd you say? Bunny's, dogs and what?" Mizuki prompted.

"Allen." Sarra mumbled, slightly clearer, her face going red.

"I'm sorry, I still can't hear you!" Mizuki laughed, holding her ear close to Sarra.

"I said Allen! Allen! You know, the white haired gentleman that I am supposedly in love with? Him! I'm going to make him!" Sarra screamed; her face a turnip.

"Great!" Mizuki laughed, loving when Sarra lost her temper.

The girls spent hours making the faces of everyone they knew, constantly making more batter and pulling trays out of the oven. By the time they could no longer think of any more people, they had made 128 cookies.

The kitchen was boiling, even with the windows fully opened. Seraphina, along with Alexandreina, Eas, and Sarra all had taken their coats off, leaving only their assortment of tee-shirts and undergarments. Mizuki's outfit was cool enough that she felt comfortable in the heat, and Vasilisa welcomed the warmth drowsily. When it was hot, Vasilisa always wanted to sleep, but then again, she wanted to sleep mostly all the time anyways.

"Wow, I think we got a little carried away." Eas said, pulling out the last batch of unfamiliar faces.

"I kinda wanna eat one now." Mizuki said, eying the mountains of cookies.

"Go ahead, find your favorite and dig in, we probably wont ever be able to eat all of these anyways." Eas pointed out.

The girls all grabbed their favorite cookies. The styles of the cookies were hilarious to the girls as they noticed the others' choices. Vasilisa had picked the cookie she had made of Alexandreina. Her face was smiling, but on the side was a large red anger mark. The top of her head had both horns and a rainbow over it. Alexandreina frowned at this and pulled out her cookie of Vasilisa. The cookie's eyes were closed and the mouth was just a dot. Where the nose was supposed to be, there was a French mustache. On her forehead the phrase "dead to the word" was scrawled. Beside the face a yellow chick sat with an evil expression on it and a marker in its hand. Vasilisa frowned at the graffiti on her cookie face but easily shrugged it off.

Sarra had a perfect representation of Allen's head, with a small pink heart beside it. Mizuki was biting into one of the round furry looking black ears on the Lavi cookies' head. Seraphina had already broken apart her Komui cookie as promised, throwing half the crumbled body out the window and half in the ovens base. Eas admired her own creation with lonely eyes. She slid it carefully into a paper bag and hid it in the back pouch of her outfit.

"I think this is just what we needed before all the craziness that's sure come." Sarra thought, cleaning up the access batter with a cloth.

"Yeah, it's going to get crazy." Seraphina agreed.

"I can't wait!" Alexandreina squealed her enthusiasm surely misguided.

Vasilisa groaned quietly at the thought of the long days.

"At least we should be able to see everyone soon." Seraphina noted. "That's all that's keeping me going along on this death trip." The girls nodded.

"Two more days." Vasilisa sighed.

"Until all hell breaks loose." Mizuki smirked.


	9. Hide and Seek

Seraphina stretched her stiff limbs, cracked her neck, and stepped into her soft jade coloured slippers. As she lifted herself slowly off the lush quilt tucked neatly into her bed she eyed the rising sun. She knew she hadn't woken incredibly early due to the sharp glare glinting through the glass of the window to her right. She decided to venture into the kitchen for some breakfast.

As she slid groggily through the single hallway connecting all the rooms in the lower hull a familiar smell flooded her senses. It was a thick, rich smell, belonging to only one possible candidate. Though her mouth watered with the scent thick in her lungs, heaving and relieving the aromatic taste, her mind shot out warnings to her stomach as if trying to cry out that something was wrong with the scent. Overwhelmed by the empowering smell, Seraphina found herself ignoring her gut instinct and followed the aroma slowly down the hall, trying to place the heavenly scent. She was half way to the kitchen, which seemed to be the source of the smell, when she felt a sharp nudge at her side, curving her frame away from the prod; her eyes caught a flicker of long brown hair flying in the wind as it rushed by her. When she regained her senses Seraphina was able to asses the situation properly. The thing that had bumped into her had actually been Sarra, who was still in her yellow and pink polka dotted pyjamas, her brown hair, the only thing Seraphina was able to see when she rushed past her, was not in its usual low pony tail, but swept across her back, free and flowing to her mid-back. What alarmed Seraphina was not Sarra's unusual night wear choice, but that she was running head-long down the hall. As she reached for the door to the kitchen, Seraphina's mind finally clicked together. She understood why the intoxicating smell had unsettled her, and why Sarra was bolting for the kitchen. As she realized this, she found her own self running for the door, a large knot twisting in her stomach.

As she took a hard left into the kitchen, she was both relieved and angered by the scene before her. Sarra was stopped three feet from the door, her mind comprehending what was before her.

Mizuki sat in a wooden chair in front of a small round table, Vasilisa on the other side. They had obviously been in mid conversation but were stopped by sarras' sudden appearance. Mizuki was staring at her, a startled expression on her face. Vasilisa was sipping at a dark liquid, the exact liquid that produced the aroma that led the girls standing at the door to the kitchen.

When she was finally able to understand what was going on, Sarra let out a frightened shriek.

"What do you think you're doing?" Seraphina shouted shortly after. "Do you know what could happen by making that?"

Mizuki followed the line Seraphina's finger was pointing to, finding herself staring bewildered at her mug. "Coffee?" She asked, confused. "Do you want some? I can make some more." She motioned to move, but Seraphina stopped her.

"No! You must not make ANY more coffee! You have already endangered us once! No more! Where did you even find that?"

Mizuki looked confused. "I packed some before we left. I imagined some people would want some, actually, I thought you liked coffee." She thought, taking another sip from her steaming cup.

"I do! But not when it puts us in danger!" Seaphina cried, thrashing her hands in the air angrily.

"We're being careful!" Mizuki responded, hurt.

"It's not a matter of that! If even one drop gets on Komurin, it could go crazy!" Sarra repressed the memories of the other four Komurin.

"Relax." Mizuki smiled, lifting her coffee to her lips, pressing the rim to them and then tipping her head back, gulping down the hot liquid. A stream escaped down her chin but before it could hit the ground Mizuki swept it up with her arm, rubbing it against her skirt to dispose of any evidence. She then stuck her finger in the mug and swirled it around, collecting all the excess coffee, ensuring no particles would cause Komurin to flip. As an extra precaution, Mizuki threw the mug out the window just in case.

After Mizuki settled herself comfortably back in her chair, Seraphina and Sarra proceeded to glare at Vaislisa's coffee.

"No way in hell." Vasilisa said calmly, wrapping her hands around the mug protectively. "I'm not going to rush my morning coffee. It's all that keeps me awake through the day."

Seraphina was about to protest when she was rudely shoved aside by a half asleep Alexandreina. "I smell coffee." She thought, sniffing the air and wandering over to Vasilisa, now the only proof of the coffee's existence. She grabbed the coffee from Vasilisa's clamped hands, putting up a fuss for the last cup. As she finally acquired the beverage, shoving Vasilisa away with a bare foot, she gulped the cup back quickly, wiping her mouth with the sleeve of her pink night gown and throwing the mug in the sink.

Her eyes opened fully once the coffee set in and she lifted her foot from its resting place on Vaislisa's head. "Now what were you guys talking about?" She asked, grabbing a chair and plopping herself in it.

"I guess it doesn't really matter now." Sarra sighed, grabbing another chair.

"Well that was unsettling." Seraphina grunted, collapsing into her own chair.

The girls conversed, soon accompanied by a groggy and starved Eas. What they were not aware of, was the thin stream of coffee oozing out of Vasilisa's mug and into the drain.

After the girls were finished with their breakfast; two batches of Sarra's specialty chocolate chip pancakes with warm bread rolls, they decided to replace their colourful night attires for their newly washed uniforms. They still had about two days left but they were already getting antsy. Komui seemed like he had taken an all nighter in case anything went wrong, and also because of the work that had been dumped on them since the deaths of the six exorcists and others as well as keeping in firm contact with the Asia branch head, Bak.

The girls greeted the receiver with groggy faces, asking him if there was anything new going on, and confirming the time it would take to get there. They decided to refrain from telling him about the coffee incident. Afterwards, the girls split up to do their own activities. Vasilisa went back to sleep promptly after the small amount of coffee in her system had worn out. Sarra was finishing cleaning up the kitchen and was contemplating what to make for lunch. Mizuki and Seraphina decided on a game of pool in the small games room. Eas and Alexandreina had received an energy burst since breakfast and were running around the deck wearing scrubbers on their feet and playing tag with the soapy bubbles spread out on the wet floor.

The series of events that followed the brusque morning was set off by a series of flags. The first flag was something small, something no one would suspect. The ones to fallow, however, were no small matter.

As was said, the first flag was little out of the ordinary, a slip up of the controls. The mechanical hands assigned to the over all cleaning of the ship grabbed Alexandreina, instead of the mop sitting beside her, and began scrubbing the floor with her feet; luckily she was still wearing the scrubbers so it wasn't a big deal. After a quick slash of her innocence, the dismounted hand rushed away. Eas was on her back in a fit of laughter, though Alexandreina was not pleased. "Get some damn glasses!" She screamed in the direction the hand took off in.

The second flag was a slightly bigger matter, only slightly more of a worry.

Sarra kneaded the dough for the noodles, stretching it and scrunching it until it was ready to be pressed into the long thin chunk of noodle. The creamy red sauce sat beside the glass dish. Cheese and ground beef waited to be added with the mixture. When it was ready, Sarra set the first layer of noodle in the dish, adding the sauce, sprinkling some cheese and spreading the meat over the first layer. Then she repeated the process until it was complete. The stove was at a comfortable 400*, perfect for cooking the lasagne. With her thick over gloves, she mounted the dish onto the single rack in the middle of the stove and shut the door, setting a small manual timer. She put away everything on the counter and took out some chilled pie crust and a bag off apples. When she turned to get the cinnamon, however, the red of the stove froze her. As she knelt down to look into the small window she was nearly blinded. The flames engulfed the inside of the stove with menace, the lasagne completely concealed in the raging inferno. Sarra shrieked at the mini hell and ran for a bucket of water. Just as she reached the sink, however, the Oven instantly cooled, the red diminishing almost instantly and the flames no longer viewable. After opening the windows, Sarra carefully opened the door to the stove, the steam thick and suffocating, billowing out the window and towards the sky. The glass dish had either shattered of melted, regardless, it was nowhere in sight. All that was left of the lasagne was a small black lump in the middle of the charred rack. Sarra cocked her head in confusion. After a few minutes of wonder, she decided to make something that didn't involve the oven.

The third flag, however, was the one that truly alerted the girls. This mishap, was not just one, but a series of unanimous events that defined the disturbing reality.

As the girls got bored, Mizuki decided to cancel the tournament, which had lasted the first part of the day. Gradually, she made her way to the deck and to the receiver to talk with Komui. He had been taking a break from the microphone since his lack of sleep was getting the better of him, so Mizuki didn't expect him to respond. And she was right. When she called to him, there was no reply. Instead, though, there was a static like sound emanating from it. Mizuki cocked her head at the sound and listened closer. There was a crack in the static every thirteen seconds where she could hear a muffled male voice. It sounded like the frequency was bad.

"Hey Komui, if you can hear me, it looks like the reception in this spot is bad! We'll talk once it's gone!" She hollered.

In ten seconds the glitch happened again and she could hear Komui yelling something, " Kom…Not…..It….Stat….Means….Bad!"

The words confused Mizuki. "I'm sorry, I can't understand! What's bad?"

She listened for four seconds before the glitch reappeared, Komui's voice clearer than it had ever been. "Komurin is messing with the controls! He's the one that created the interference! He's Coru…." The line went dead, Komui's' voice, The static, it all went silent. Mizuki ran through the information Komui had given her in her head.

"But other than that, Komurin hasn't done anything unusual, that I know of." Mizuki whipped around suddenly, a large knot in her stomach. _The others!_ She thought as she scanned the deck. Alexandreina and Eas seemed to have moved down stairs. She needed to warn them, or at the very least ask them if anything weird happened to them.

Seraphina stretched out onto the small couch in the games room, wondering what to do next. The game had ended in a tie, and Mizuki had left her to see if anything was new with Komui. She contemplated helping Sarra with lunch, but knowing her, she'd decline, wanting to sharpen her skills on her own, and frankly, she knew she really couldn't cook, so it was better if she left the food to the professionals. Vasilisa was in her room, either sleeping or reading, neither needed company. She thought about reading herself, but she didn't think she could do it while on the sea. Her next thought was to see what Alexandreina and Eas were doing. That idea seemed plausible, perhaps they could assist her in her boredom, or at least join her. She grabbed the chair, lifting herself up and stumbled to the open door. She stepped into the hall, the silence some what eerie. A large crack sounded above the deck and she wondered if Mizuki had slipped on the deck and cracked her head. It seemed likely. As she passed one of the bed rooms, the door creaked open. She turned to it, confused. _The wind. It's the wind doing this._ She thought, rubbing her chilled arms. As she continued, she noticed the broom closet door was open. "Alexandreina and Eas must be cleaning up; they need to learn how to close a door!" She walked swiftly to the door, grabbing hold of the knob and slamming it. The door shook, then rebounded open again. "What the heck?" She cried out, annoyed now. She peered into the closet, looking for something that might be in the way of the door. She was disgusted by the tangled mess of cleaning supplies, mounds of brooms, and mops, stacks of buckets, it was a catastrophe. The object blocking the doorway was a broom. Its limp stem splayed across the left corner of the doorway. She sighed, bending down to grab the broom. As she did so, the broom seemed to move, sliding to the right corner. Seraphina wondered if the ship was rocking. She reached out her hand once more, this time to the right corner. Yet again, just as she was about to grab it, the Broom slid again, this time to the center. Angered now, Seraphina rolled up her sleeves and placed her hands on both sides of the broom, giving it no way to escape. Slowly, she slid her hands closer until they were right beside the broom. When they were in position, she lunged, cupping her hands over the long handle. As she did this, the broom flew up, knocking her hands away and flying into her forehead. As it escaped down the hall, its bristles trailing behind it. Seraphina sat up, rubbing the round red mark on her forehead. She looked back as the broom bustled up the stairs, scampering away. The shock was clouding her mind, or maybe it was the hard smack to her forehead, regardless, she wasn't thinking straight, and had no time to control what came next. Out of the closet all the mops and buckets and brooms rushed out, stampeding like a bunch of scared horses, parting around Seraphina. The last of the mops stopped beside her, allowing her to understand one thing; the cleaning supplies were alive, and kicking. Shakily, she stood up, reaching for the broom, wondering whether it was just a figment of her imagination. Before her fingers could brush the thin wood, the door slammed into her back, knocking her into the closet, and closing behind her. The darkness was a weird welcoming as her eyes blurred and her thoughts drifted.

Alexandreina wiped the sweat from her brow as she slipped the scrubbers off her feet, the bristles full of left over bubbles. Eas was slumped against the wall. They had just finished the great hall and it had left them worn and tired. The floor sparkled magnificently and that left the girls proud. As they rested, they discussed how fun it will be to find the others, and kick some Akuma butt. Alexandreina explained to her what defeating Akuma is like, elaborating her tales to make them even more exiting. When their energy returned to them, they decided to play a game of tag on the wet floors. They skidded around, smashing into walls and falling on their butts trying to tag each other. Alexandreina nearly sent one of the tables flying when she dove into it trying to avoid a graceful stab of Eas's hand. The table let out a groan when it was fully seated again, and the girls laughed. Eas launched herself at Alexandreina again, this time cornering her against the table, and launched her hand towards her. Alexandreina closed her eyes as the hand drove for her chest, giggling the entire time. She waited a few moments, wondering when she would be tagged. Finally, after a few seconds, she opened her eyes, wondering why Eas hadn't tagged her. What she saw confused her. It looked as though she was seeing Eas from behind bars. Tall wooden pillars rose to eye level, connected by a large chunk of wood which had an intricate design carved into it. Eas's face looked equally confused, and shocked. In unison, they traced their way down the thin pillars until it intersected with another large chunk of wood, though this time it was connected at the edge by the pillars, creating a sort of seat like thing. Below four wooden limbs stretched out in accordance to the floor.

"When'd a chair get there?" Alexandreina asked, mystified.

"I don't know, but I think my hands stuck." Eas replied, tugging at her arm. Between the middle bars, her outstretched hand wriggled, trying to get free. "I don't know how I got it in so easily! I didn't even feel it pass through, but now it feels impossible to get out! It's like the bars shrunk as soon as my hand passed through!" Eas was frustrated now, using the chairs seat as leverage and pulling with all her might. If she had pulled any farther it looked like she may have been able to dislocate her arm.

"Here, let me help." Alexandreina said, pushing on her hand while Eas pulled. No luck.

"What am I going to do?" Eas cried, straddling the chair. Alexandreina shook her head. "How on earth did you get it in there?"

"I don't know!" Eas whimpered, exhausted by the effort she had displayed.

Alexandreina grabbed another chair and sat in it, tapping her fingers on her chin. "What if we used butter, or grease? You might be able to slide it out that way!"

Eas shrugged her shoulders. "If you think it will get me free." She whispered, totally defeated.

Alexandreina thought a second then slapped her hands together with emphasis. "I know! I'll just use my innocence to cut you loose!"

Eas perked up. "You can do that?"

"Sure! I can cut almost anything with that thing! I'll even use it when I'm cutting something up for supper sometimes! It's good when your traveling, like your own little pocket knife, only without the hassle of carrying it!"

Eas nodded in delight. "That sounds great! Hurry up and cut me free!"

Alexandreina nodded and held out her arm. "Innocence, Activ…" The chair she was sitting in spun around, making Alexandreina fall to the floor. Alexandreina sat up, completely in shock. "What the hell was that?" She asked staring at the unmoving chair.

Eas looked at her. "What? I didn't see anything. Why are you on the floor? Help me out already!"

"Yeah," Alexandreina said in a wavering voice. She stood herself up, eyeing the chair carefully, and walked over to Eas. "Ok, don't move, alright? I don't want to accidentally cut you in half instead!" Eas gulped. "Alright then," Alexandreina took one last look at the chair, and then began her activation once more. "Innocence, A…" Alexandreina flew into the table, her breath knocked out, and her head bleeding from being smashed into the table with such force. Eas gasped ten seconds later, after she could finally understand what had happened. The chair Alexandreina had been eyeing was still in the same place it had been, but another chair from half way across the room was now pinning Alexandreina, unconscious and bleeding, to the table.

"Ally!" Eas shouted, to worn to shout her full name, besides, she didn't have the time. She got up off the chair and raced towards Alexandreina, only to be stopped full throttle by the very chair she had been sitting on. Instead of falling over and being dragged with her, the chair stood seemingly bolted to the floor. Eas's eyebrows furrowed, confused and frustrated. "Damn chair! Move!" She screamed, tugging at it. No movement. Eas kicked it. No movement. She smashed her other fist into the bars of the chair only to find it stuck like the other. She struggled awkwardly, trying to free herself. "That's it!" She screamed. "I'm calling on my innocence!" The chair shook at this, unbolting itself and flying backwards, knocking Eas onto the seat. Like with Alexandreina, it slid rapidly across the floor and into a table, smashing Eas's back into the edge of the table. "Ouch, Damnit! That hurt!" She cried, leaning foreword so the table wouldn't dig any further into her back. "Teddy you idiot! Where are you?!"

Sarra hummed lightly as she prepared the chilled shrimp and salad. There was nothing warm since the incident had possibly scared her out of ever using an oven again. As she ventured over to the sink she wiped the sweat from her brow; the kitchen was still hot. She turned the cold water tap, placing her hands under it and waiting for the refreshing stream. It didn't come. She turned the tap to full, but still nothing happened. Sarra was beginning to get frustrated with the faulty appliances. She flipped her head under the tap, looking to see if there was anything clotting it or something. The dark hole was empty of any blockers, and water. She listened intently, but heard nothing. "What the heck?" She mumbled to herself, sticking her finger into the opening. Suddenly, she felt an incredible pressure on her finger. She cocked her head, pulling her finger out of the tap. The blast from the tap was so powerful it knocked her right into the sink, her legs dangling over the edge. The water began building up in the sink as Sarra's head pressed firm against the drain, constantly pressured by the blasts of cold water. She struggled, trying to move her head from the water, but it was to strong. Instead, she used her legs to kick the tap to the side, releasing her. Sarra dropped to the ground, gasping. She was completely drenched in the icy cool water. Turning to the sink she was astonished to see it looked normal. Besides the fact that the tap was facing the wrong way, there was no water in sight. The sink was completely drained, and the tap was no longer running. Sarra collapsed in a chair, still out of breath and now completely awe struck. "What is going on here?" She thought. To be safe, she decided to ditch the kitchen and find the others. She grabbed the shrimp and salad bowl on her way out, hoping that would be enough to satisfy the girls. A sharp pain in her hand stopped her. She looked down at the hand that was holding the salad. A dark red was spreading from it. Quickly, she realized it was blood. The pain came back, sharper this time, like something was piercing the skin. This time she dropped the bowl, which shattered on contact with the floor, spraying glass across the premises. Sarra analyzed her hand, ignoring the glass. There were five small puncture wounds on the inside of her hand. They formed a cresant shape which oddly reminded her of teeth. "What is this?" She asked, shocked. "How the heck did this get here?"

As she looked over her now dripping hand, a dark shadow loomed behind her. The sudden obstruction of light shocked Sarra, who naively turned to meet a six foot stack of plates in the shape of a human, it's cake dished hands holding pitchforks made of utensils. Sarra shrieked at the sight and backed away towards the door. The plate person swung its fork at her forcing her to duck away from the doorway. It pressed her back further until it was completely blocking her only chance of escape. As her last resort she let out a loud shriek. The fork launched itself at her throat and she fell backwards into a frozen darkness.

Mizuki ran towards the door to the stairs, wishing frantically that nothing had happened to the others yet. They needed to get off the boat. As she got to the door, she heard a distinct rumbling. "What the?" She asked, feeling the tremors under her feet. She reached for the doorknob, her hand shaking from the force of the tremors. Before she got to the knob, however, the door burst open of its own accord, knocking Mizuki backwards. "Huh?" She asked, stunned. The rumbling sounded louder now that the door was open, no, it sounded louder because it was coming towards her. Quickly, she activated her innocence, stringing her bow and pointing it towards the door. What she saw caught her off guard. She was expecting something a bit more menacing. A hoard of cleaning supplies ambushed the deck, spilling out like water. Mizuki held her stance, not sure what to do. Once she was completely surrounded, the rumbling dimmed. "What is this about?" She asked, looking around at the supplies. "You're actually planning on defeating me with a couple of mops and brooms?" She felt silly talking to cleaning supplies, even if they were being controlled. "Whatever. Just don't lame me if I destroy everything!" Her arrow glowed a bright green as she prepared to attack. "Let's bowl!" She cheered, letting go. The Arrow cut through the air with substantial speed, striking two of the brooms and knocking down another six. The fight was on. She strung four more arrows. "Fifth bow, striking pulse!" She aimed them to the sky, launching them into the clouds. A second later the arrows were back, with greater speed than ever, each aimed at a different part of the mob. The resulting tremors of the landings were like loud heart beats, an initial blow, and then the after effect. This demolished nearly half the crowd. "How'd you like that?" Mizuki laughed maniacally. A thick fog interrupted her. The dusters were shaking off all the dust essentially creating a thick grey fog. "Ah." Mizuki understood. _So that's how their going to do it._ She thought. _Their going to attack behind a glass wall, so it will be harder for me to pick them off. That's smart._ She chuckled. "But not that smart!" She strung ten arrows to her bow. "Sixth bow, tracker!" The arrows spun off into different directions. Explosions sounded from nine points around her. She looked up, confused. "Are you guys running away? Where's the tenth explosion?" A hot sensation seared her back, sending her flying forwards. Sprawled out on the ground, she understood. _Tricky little buggers, their using my own attacks against me, they must have figured out which ones were being tagged, and used the tenth one as a suicide bomber. Damn, it's like their getting smarter!_ As she got to her feet, she grabbed her bow again, dragging it back into position. Before she was able to fire another set, however, a blunt pain in her stomach made her stumble backwards and loose her grip again on her bow. Rubbing her stomach, she positioned her bow again, ready to string another arrow. This time, the blow was to the back of her head. It must have been a bucket because it covered a thick part of her head. "Come on! Stop that!" She cried out, rubbing her head. "I know what you're trying to do! You're trying to stop me from stringing my bow! Well it won't work!" She aligned her bow, and drew her arrows, despite the constant attacks. "Second bow, Fire!" As the arrows soared through the air, they caught fire to all those around them, infecting nearly all of them. "Ha! All of you should burn rather well, I bet!" Mizuki smiled, triumphant. The searing to her backside reminded her not. They were using the fire to scald her as they withered away. "Oh great!" She shouted, angrily rubbing the small second degree burn on her lower back. "I've got some real problems!" She ducked as a flaming bucket whizzed past her. "Something tells me their not the ones that will give up easily." She sighed.

The scream wasn't loud, but it was enough to pull her from her peaceful slumber. Vasilisa growled at the sound that had woken her. She slipped into her uniform and stumbled out the door. She managed to muster a yawn as she walked sleepily down the hall. The kitchen was closest; she wanted a glass of water, so she chose to go there first. When she entered the kitchen, she expected Sarra to be making, or finishing lunch. Instead all that was there was a broken bowl which lettuce strewn everywhere and an otherwise empty kitchen. "Sarra?" She mumbled, rubbing her eyes. The glass crunched beneath her feet as she grabbed a glass from the cupboard and ventured over to the sink. The tap the turned the wrong way, which unsettled her. She turned it around and filled up a glass of cold water. As she leaned against the counter, a ghostly moaning echoed through the kitchen, raising the hair on the back of Vasilisa's neck. The moaning soon turned into a muffled yelping. She looked around, unsettled. The yelping became an inconsistent banging. Carefully, Vasilisa turned to the direction of the sounds, opening cupboards and drawers along the way. Finally only the ice box was left. Carefully, she lifted the lid, silently invocating her innocence. What she found in the freezer was definitely not meat and fish. Their eyes connected, surprise filling them. Sarra's shaking frame crowded the fish and beef, her entire body blue, her clothes stiff with frost.

"Oh my god, are you ok?" Vasilisa asked her, carefully pulling Sarra from the box.

"I,I,I, T,thinnnnk, s,so" Sarra stuttered, her purple lips trembling fiercely.

Vasilisa looked at her worriedly. "How'd you end up in there?" She finally asked.

Sarra laughed brokenly. "T,t,the s,sh,ship I,I,is mmalfunctionning."

Vasilisa nodded, understanding. "So the coffee really does screw this thing over, but I thought we got rid of all of it."

Sarra shook her head and pointed a shaking hand at the sink.

"You yeah, I forgot the cup Alexandreina threw in the sink, she must not have drained it completely. Damn. So where's the others?"

Sarra shrugged. "I,I d,d,don't knnnowww."

"That's not good. We'd better find them." She stared down at Sarra, her body shaking like a wet noodle. "But first, we need to get you some blankets."

After Sarra was out of her uniform and had three blankets wrapped around her, they set off to find the others.

"H,how aare we g,going to f,find themm?" Sarra asked her stutter calming with her chattering teeth.

"I have a technique if we really need it, but for now, how about we just look around. There aren't many places they can be."

Sarra nodded.

The corridor was extra creepy now that basically anything could jump out and attack them. They had to stay in the middle of the hallway because the doors would slam into them if they were to close. They checked the games room first since it was on the same side as the kitchen. While they were in there, the door slammed and locked them in, and the games advanced towards them, firing pucks and pool balls, and other game accessories at them. Vasilisa blocked them from hitting Sarra, and then after making sure there was no one in the room, she let out a sonic blast which stunned the gadgets. Breaking down the door with her foot, she dragged Sarra to the dinning room. The door seemed to be barricaded shut so brute force seemed out of the question. Instead, Vasilisa was forced to use a sonic blast that shattered the door into splinters. What had been holding the door shut was not a bar or lock, but all the chairs in the room. They were now lying in splinters at their feet.

"Over there!" Sarra cried, pointing a shaking hand to the one lone table in the middle of the room. Alexandreina was still passed out, her head lying limp on the table. Eas looked exhausted from trying to get free, her forehead resting on the back of the chair. She bolted upright as soon as they broke through, and hope ignited in her eyes.

"Guys!" She called, to them, nearly crying. "Guys, please, we're stuck, and Alexandreina is still knocked out!"

"Don't worry." Vasilisa said, waving her hand. "We'll get you guys out of there right away."

The bars proved tough. Vasilisa's kicked did more damage to Eas's nerves than to the chair, and her voice would probably break Eas too. Finally, Eas noticed the suitcases in Sarra's hand. "Hey, is Teddy in there?" She asked, eyeing the cases.

Sarra nodded. "I made sure to pack him, along with anything else anyone had."

Eas grinned. "Can you get him for me? I think I might be able to get myself free with him. Sarra opened one of the suitcases. Among the clutter of coats and random junk, she pulled out a peeved Teddy.

"What's the deal with shoving me in that cramped case?!" He demanded, slapping Sarra whit a plush arm. "And you!" He jumped from her hands and bounced over to Eas. "What a great idea to lock me in your freaking room! You're supposed to have your innocence at all times!"

Eas groaned. "I don't want to have to deal with you at all times. I should have gotten Komui to sew your mouth shut!"

Teddy freaked. "Then I guess you don't want to be free?"

"Ok, ok, I'm sorry, just, please, we need to go." Eas apologized.

Teddy sighed. "Ok, but I'm not done with you!"

Eas shrugged. "You're never done talking. I honestly don't care, just hurry up and set me free."

"Then activate me, idiot."

"Oh yeah," Eas sighed, "Ok, Innocence, Activate!" A green glow erupted from Teddy, the Innocence glowing within him. "Plush saw!" Teddy's body transformed into a fuzzy-looking saw. "Ok, now cut me loose!" She cried. Teddy's body swiftly cut through all the bars in the chair, one half sliding to the floor. Eas cried out in happiness as she rubbed her soar cuffs.

After releasing Alexandreina, The girls bound down the hallway; Alexandreina slung across Vasilisa's back, Eas helping Sarra with the suitcases.

The only door on the other side was the closet. The girls stopped there, contemplating weather to go in.

"If anyone's stupid enough to get themselves stuck in a closet, they deserve to be there." Eas countered at the suggestion of checking it out.

A muffled banging came from the other side of the door along with a course of either profanity, or insults, it was hard to tell.

"Sounds like Seraphina." Vasilisa commented.

"Hmm, yup, she'd defiantly be stupid enough to get herself stuck in a place like that." Eas nodded. The screaming intensified. It looked like a mix of both insults, and profanity, and also maybe some sarcasm mixed in there.

"Someone open the door." Vasilisa urged.

"Do we have to?" Eas asked, but shut up after seeing Vasilisa's look. "Fine." Without warning, she slammed her foot into the door with all her might. The door rebounded fiercely by the force. They heard the thud before they were able to realize what happened. Seraphina had been standing at the door when Eas had kicked it in, which sent her flying too. "Oh, sorry, did I get you, too?" Eas smiled evilly.

Seraphina nearly decked her, but Eas used the Suitcase she was holding as protection.

"Alright, we've finished the bottom floor, now all we have to find is Mizuki, and she must be on the deck." Vasilisa sighed. "This is getting tedious."

As they walked up the stairs, Sarra noted something. "Isn't it a little odd that we haven't encountered any other troubles? It's like Komourin's called off his attack."

Seraphina shook her head. "Or maybe he's just focusing on a certain part."

And with that, they opened the door to a battlefield. The mist had partially cleared so it wasn't as hard to see what was around them. Mizuki stood in the middle of the deck, bruised and slightly burned. Her breath seemed labored.

"We've got to help her!" Sarra demanded.

"Is she fighting, mops?" Vasilisa asked, squinting into the dust.

"Actually, it's an array of cleaning supplies. They stampeded by me when I looked inside." Seraphina replied. "Don't underestimate them."

"I can see that!" Sarra whimpered.

"We have no time for a fight, we've gotta get off of him!" Vasilisa contemplated for a minute before slapping her fist to her hand, a bright idea forming in her mind. "Ok! Here's how we're going to do this! Seraphina and I are going to go help Mizuki while you two take Alexandreina to the escape boat. Once you've got it ready, call us, we'll make our grand exit and be out of here!"

The group nodded, liking the idea. "Be safe." Eas and Sarra called out as the others joined Mizuki.

It didn't take long for the Boat to be ready. Sarra called out to them briefly after they went to fight. The girls emerged from the dust, each holding one of Mizuki's arms around their shoulders and dashing to the boat.

"Lower it! Lower it!" They screamed as the cleaners gained ground on them. Sarra and Eas slowly slackened the ropes until they were almost half way down the boat. Then, three pairs of feet came sailing overboard, flying through the air and hitting the boat with enough speed to snap both ropes and send it flying into the waters.

"You made us get soaked!" Eas growled, flipping her drenched bangs out of her face.

"But it worked, we made it!" Vasilisa laughed, exhilarated for once.

They rowed the boat further away from Komurin so nothing could try to jump on board like the others. They were discussing what to do with Komurin when he started shifting back into his normal form. The girls watched in shock and annoyance as the giant robot grew taller and taller until it stood on the water like Jesus, three stories above them.

"This is not good." Sarra cried.

"Don't worry; I know what we can do." Vasilisa had a disturbing smile on her face. She pushed through the girls to the passed out Alexandreina. She leaned down and whispered something in her ear. Alexandreina shot up, her eyes full of excitement. Before the girls could comprehend anything, Alexandreina was flying through the air, her innocence invocated, the long dagger pointed towards Komurin. As she landed on him, she ran her sword up his chest, the core, and then using it as a sword; she smashed it into Komurin, sending him into the sky, exploding in mid-air. Alexandreina fell back to the water, swimming back to the boat.

"That was amazing!" Eas cheered.

"How'd you get her to wake up?" Sarra asked, astonished.

Vasilisa helped Alexandreina onto the boat. "She's a bit like Komui. If you whisper into a sleeping Komui's ear that Lenalee is getting married, he will instantly wake up. All I have to do is whisper into Alexandreina's ear that there is an Akuma, and she will automatically go into fighting mode, though I wouldn't suggest doing that unless there really was an Akuma around."

The others shuddered. They could imagine what they'd have to pay for that.

"Well, now we have another two day trek, or more." Seraphina sighed

"Not exactly, while we were being attacked, Komui actually sped up to a speed faster than max, I'm not sure why, It was probably because his systems were so messed up. Anyways, we're probably almost there by now is what I'm trying to say." Mizuki smiled.

"Alright!" Alexandreina cheered as she wrung her messy pig tails out.

"OH!" Sarra exclaimed, noticing Alexandreina's drenched attire. "I forgot to tell you guys because of all the stuff that happened, but I found some new uniforms stashed in my closet and a note from Komui. Apparently they are more flexible, lighter, and more durable. It looks like we could do with a change of clothes anyways."

The girls nodded as Sarra opened the other suitcase to reveal their new attire. The new outfits were similar in colour, but their designs differed on the person, and the white designs changed from the blotches across the back and on the shoulders to crosses on the backs and shoulders. Some of the outfits changed, but mostly, they were similar. The twins' coats were almost identical, but the colour of Alexandreina's was reversed because of preference. Eas's had matures a little, the coat was smaller and she wore a short pleated skirt with long shorts and her boots. Her jacket was cut off after the shoulder but reconnected a little farther down with a loose sleeve. She also decided to pull her short hair back into low pig tails since it had grown long enough to do so. Sarra's jacket had grown a little longer and split down the middle. Seraphina's was still long but her pants were tighter, and her boots higher. Mizuki's was still almost identical to her old one.

They each tied a hooded cape around them as the misty island came into view.

"That place gives me the creeps." Sarra and Eas shuddered.

"It's the home of out Enemy's. What else do you think it would be?" Seraphina groaned.


	10. The black forest is paved with blood

Ok, quick note before the chapter. I'm sorry for the amount of time it took for me to get this up. This chapter forced me to do a lot of research, and due to some unfortunate circumstances, I needed to recreate the chapter more than once.

Warning: I am very rusty when it comes to anything cute or overly serious, so please forgive me if I do not deliver properly in these areas.

I hope you enjoy it!

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The girls huddled together as they trekked down the thin path.

"Remember, this is the home of Akuma, so we need to be on our guard!" Seraphina reminded the group.

"No duh." Eas rolled her eyes. Seraphina glowered at her.

They rounded a bend, innocence ready in case of emergency.

"Hey Vasilisa, could you do your freaky bat sonar?" Alexandreina asked. "It will be easier if we can see further into this thick forest."

Vasilisa scowled at her. "It's not freaky, and it only mimics a bats sonar capabilities." Alexandreina shrugged. It was obvious she'd call it whatever she wanted to. Vasilisa sighed, understanding this. Opening her mouth, she let out her sonar, the echoing of the forest and creatures within it reverberating back to her. She scanned the area, recognizing the tree's and rocks and small wild life. "No Akuma yet." She said disconnected, as she broadened her reach.

She stopped her search after she had reached a 3 kilometer radius. "So far, it seems clear, but we're still only at the edge of Japan, it's not likely we won't bump into one later on."

The girls nodded and continued down the path. After every half kilometer Vasilisa would activate her sonar again.

After they had walked two kilometers, Eas started complaining. "My feet hurt!" She cried, stopping where she was.

"All of our feet hurt." Seraphina growled, her mood slumped by the suspense of being in enemy territory.

"But you're bigger than me! You can walk farther!" Eas pointed out in a huff.

"It has nothing to do with that! You're just out of shape!"

"What? I used to travel all the time! I worked at lots of mining places, carrying heavy wheel barrows! I am not out of shape!"

Mizuki sighed. "Ok, guys, that's enough. We're all tired, but chewing each other out isn't going to help our situation. Eas, you can jump on my back until your feet feel better, ok?"

Eas nodded and happily crawled onto Mizuki's back. She sighed, and continued their decent into the heart of Japan.

"Now's were things get tough." Vasilisa whispered when they were five kilometers in. The path ahead of them crossed a clear field and carried on like that for a kilometer. Perfect, if you wanted to get spotted. Vasilisa activated her innocence and stretched it out as far as she could. "I don't see anything, but that doesn't mean they won't still come." She was still whispering and the tension was high throughout the crew. Mizuki let Eas down, but held her hand, restraining her from wandering. The girls inched their way into the openness, their eyes restless.

Quarter of the way.

Half way.

Three quarters.

They were on the last stretch, almost back into the forest when they begun to sprint. They dropped their guards and ran head long towards the safety of the forest.

Mizuki was almost into the shade of the forest when the scream wrenched its way through the crowd. Alexandreina was crumpled three meters from them, a long chain protruding from her back and spiraling into the sky.

"Dreina!" Vasilisa cried the same time Seraphina screamed "Akuma!"

Directly above them, five stories up, two unfamiliar Akuma floated, sharp mettle wings grasping at the air.

"What level are they? I've never seen one like that!" Mizuki questioned, shielding her eyes from the sun as she tried to make out the distant figures.

Vasilisa was working on freeing Alexandreina from the claw that was attached to a long mettle chain and lodged into the Alexandreina's shoulder. "It's a level three." She mumbled, breathless from the run. "We've seen one before on our travels. It was fighting general Clouds Nine. We didn't see much of the fight because we were on our own mission, but it looked nasty. If we were to fight them together, we could probably win, but not without great casualty's."

The girls all possessed looks of shock as Vasilisa finished. "That bad, huh?" Mizuki mumbled, pushing her hand through her hair. "Then I guess it would be the most wise to get out of here."

Vasilisa was able to loosen the claw and yank it out of Alexandreina's back before the Akuma pulled it back. Her shoulder was bleeding wildly and Vasilisa was afraid it had hit something. She ripped the side of her cloak and wrapped it around her back while the others defended them.

"They're coming!" Seraphina shouted as the same Akuma speared the chain towards them. Seraphina matched it with her whip and they started a stand off, their weapons entangled in an angry mess. "Hurry!" She screamed as the Akuma pulled hard on its end.

Vasilisa got the bleeding mostly stopped and slid her carefully onto Mizuki's back. They started sprinting back into the forest while Sarra held the other Akuma at bay with her sling shot.

Once the girls reached the forest, they called for the others. Sarra pulled out some smoke balls while Seraphina ignited her whip until it melted through the chain. They ran back to the others and they continued through the forest, looking for a safer haven.

"They're right over us!" Vasilisa cried, using her sonar to track them.

"Over here!" Eas shouted, pointing to a slightly hidden cave entrance. "Vasilisa, where does this go?"

Quickly, Vasilisa surveyed the dense cave. After a few moments she replied in a hopeful voice, "It looks pretty complex, but I see a number of exits. It should help." The girls nodded and rushed into the cave. Hastily, Sarra threw a bomb ball at the boulders over head so the Akuma couldn't fallow them.

Tired and worn with no source of light or direction other than Vasilisa's sonar, the girls collapsed into the dark mouth.

"Wah! It's so dark! Why did we close the entrance?" Eas screamed, feeling the walls.

"Think about it, idiot." Seraphina's voice came a little farther into the cave.

"I'm giving you evil bug eyes right now." Eas glowered.

"Anyone got a match and some wood?" Mizuki asked from the entrance.

A light flicker ignited even further down the cave but proceeded closer to them. "You guys aren't very aware, are you?" Seraphina asked, her annoyance easily identified by her expression, suddenly lit up by the large flame held just above her head. "My whip can ignite, remember?"

"Hahaha, oh yeah!" Mizuki laughed, walking into the light source, Alexandreina still slung over her shoulder.

"Won't that use up your energy though?" Sarra asked worriedly.

"No more than Vasilisa." Seraphina answered disconcertedly. "Besides, we have five conscious people here, I'm sure we can handle what ever comes up."

"Take a left here." Vasilisa interjected as they entered a fork in the path.

"Sooo, where are we going again?" Sarra asked.

"We're headed towards Edo. That is where the others were headed." Mizuki grunted, shifting Mizuki to her other side.

"This cave will lead out to a forested stretch, but it will be a long while before we are anywhere near Edo." Vasilisa gave a vacant look that suggested she was using her sonar.

"So I'll take it we're going in the right direction." Eas concluded.

"Obviously." Seraphina rolled her eyes. Eas gave a menacing glare and Sarra moved up beside her just incase.

"About six meters and we'll take a right, then a sharp turn to a large opening where we will be faced with a choice of four intersecting channels. Pick the one on the far left." Vasilisa continued, walking ahead slightly.

The girls did as she said and reached the opening. They took the passageway Vasilisa instructed them and headed down a slender walkway.

"Almost There." Vasilisa whispered, picking up her pace.

They broke through the passage into the bright sunlight. A thick brush lay in front of them, stretching far off into the south.

"Finally!" Eas breathed, dancing into the light. "It felt like I was going to die in there!"

"Stop being an idiot and get in the shade of the trees. What if the Akuma find us again? That was a lucky break last time. I doubt it will happen again." Eas glared at Seraphina, but moved into the shade of the nearby trees.

Once they got deeper into the trees, they decided to rest. Mizuki was short on breath and Vasilisa wanted to check on Alexandreina. Seraphina unpacked some leftovers from the ship and passed them around. Eas quickly gulped down an entire bottle of water, wiping her mouth dry. Seraphina stared at her in revulsion.

"If you don't slow down, you'll have to go pee." Sarra noted as Eas grabbed another bottle.

She stared at the water and gulped. "Why didn't you tell me that earlier?"

"Because I didn't know you were going to chug it." Sarra replied, distressed by Eas's urgency.

"Aww man! Now I really have to go!" She stood up, her legs pinning together and her hips swaying.

"Geez, you're such a child!" Seraphina snarled, taking a bite out of a sandwich.

"I seriously gotta go!" She wailed, looking around.

"Just find a tree!" Sarra ushered her.

"Ok, but I gotta go further in the forest."

"If your self conscious enough to be worried about us peeping on you, you can hold it." Seraphina mumbled.

"I won't go that far!" Eas shouted back, ignoring Seraphina's remark. She hurried into the denser part of the forest while the others broke out some apples.

The woods were eerie without her friends. Eas wandered around, her mind on the dense over hangs than on her pressing bladder. As she walked deeper, she noticed the trees were becoming thinner. Patches of sunlight spotted the dull earth beneath her. The further she walked, the more light flooded the ground. Carefully, she proceeded until she could here the rushing of water. This brought her previous needs to mind and she quickly ran too a thick tree. Instead of heading straight back, Eas decided to see what was creating the rippling noises. She inched her way forward, careful not to step in any of the larger open areas and followed the growing sound.

As she broke through the forest, the sight made her ecstatic. In front of her, a rumbling stream slithered into the east. Coy jumped freely into the air, splashing the sparking water into the sky. Eas smiled with delight and quickly yanked her boots off and shoved her feet into the shallow stream. The current swirled around her toes and made her giggle. She knew she should go back to the others, but she couldn't help sit for a few minutes and enjoy the sensation.

A surprised chuckle ran shivers down her spine. The sky overhead gaped dangerously around her, revealing her completely. She hadn't even thought of the danger the stream could bring her. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as she slowly lifted her eyes to meet the Akuma.

Her expression made him laugh again. She had expected to be facing a nasty Akuma, but instead her eyes met with the liquid gold of a human's eyes. The man had dark skin and thick black hair that was slicked back under a long top hat. He was wearing a respectable suit and carried a cigarette in his mouth which he quickly ground under his foot.

"Your!" She exclaimed, the surprise preventing the rest of her sentence. _I didn't know there were still humans here._ She wondered, scrutinizing the man incase he was just an Akuma hiding in human skin.

"Isn't it a little dangerous for a little girl to be hanging around a stream by herself?" He asked in a polite tone. He was crouched down across the river; his eyes still displayed an odd curiosity and surprise.

"I could ask you the same thing." Eas relaxed slightly when he struck up a conversation. An Akuma would surely not do something like that.

The man chuckled. "It is no danger to me."

"But there are demons here!"

The man smiled a strange wide smile that frightened her, but he quickly replaced it with a carefree expression. "So what are you doing here in Japan? Visiting, or do you have a residence around here?"

Eas shook her head. "I'm here on business."

The man smiled quizzically and cocked his head. "What business would you have in Japan?"

Eas thought to herself. Then, standing up, she gave a small wink. "That's classified!" She then disappeared back into the woods, leaving the man questioning and amused.

"What happened to you?" Mizuki asked, noting the length of time she had been absent.

"Don't ask her that! She'll probably give us a detailed description of her time in the "Bush"". Seraphina scowled, crinkling up her nose.

"Well actually," Eas retorted, scowling back at her as she took her seat next to Mizuki. "  
I was going to tell you about what I found, but now I don't think I will!"

Seraphina averted her attention to the healing Alexandreina, giving Eas no more than a, "Good. Let's keep it that way."

Alexandreina was doing better now that she was properly bandaged and resting. According to Vasilisa's analysis, the spear had only breached the muscle tissue in her lower right shoulder. She thought it may have broken a rib, but she wasn't sure. Most of it was guessing. Alexandreina was still passed out, but she didn't look as in pain as before. She was tough, and they all knew she could deal with it.

The girls decided to rest for another half hour before they packed up. Mizuki and Vasilisa took turns carrying Alexandreina while the others used small knives to bushwhack when needed. It was mostly trees, but there were a few weeded areas. The girls took their times getting to their destination. They still weren't sure where the others were, and the Golem they had brought along didn't sense them.

It was early evening by the time the Golem finally got a faint trace of their presence. The girls jumped for joy and sped up their pace. Vasilisa was the first to stop. She had taken her turn with Alexandreina, so the girls suspected she was tired. Her expression changed their assumptions though. She looked like she was concentrating. Her breathes were full but even, and her face was concealed with focus, exhaustion, and what alerted the girls- fear. She whipped her head around, scanning the area. The girls followed suit. They didn't know what they were looking for, but if Vasilisa looked like that, there had to be something. The girls held their stances in dangling suspense, the air thick with concentration and stress. They stood there for five minutes, scanning the area, quietly invoking their innocence. Finally, a rustling occurred to the left of Sarra. The girls whipped around, their Innocence ready to attack, when a small black cat slipped out. The girls were thrown off balance by the difference from their fears. The cat looked up at them, seemingly curious. Sarra went to pet it but Vasilisa stopped her.

"It looks friendly, though." Sarra said with a slight pout. She liked cats.

"It could be dangerous." Vasilisa replied, her suspicion fierce.

The cat ran its back against Sarra's leg and she looked down at it with a delighted squeak. Ignoring Vasilisa's warnings, she bent down and stroked the cat. It purred soothingly and Sarra giggled. Eas ran to join her and they each played with the cat until the others convinced them to keep moving. Sarra carried the cat along with them, earning concerned and angry glances from Vasilisa and Seraphina. Eas stood by, stroking the cat every now and again.

"Hey, look! There's a bell under its neck!" Eas exclaimed, examining the small gold bell.

"Yeah, and it's got a scar in the middle of its forehead. Maybe it's been abused?" Sarra suggested.

"Not likely in a place like this, it probably just got in a muddle with some other cats, or maybe even an Akuma." Eas corrected her, shaking her head while she traced her finger over the cross shaped scar.

Vasilisa had switched Alexandreina onto Mizuki's back and was now using her sonar steadily. They were worn and she didn't want to be surprised again. Plus, the arrival of the cat made her uneasy.

It was when the Golem started getting exited, acknowledging that the others where close, that Vasilisa caught wind of something.

"Everyone get ready!" A strong gust of wind threatened the girls as they invoked their innocence. Two level three Akuma, different from the ones before, landed directly in front of them, blocking their escape.

The girls got into their fighting stances, Mizuki hiding Alexandreina out of harms way.

The Akuma stood very still. Their posture was in one of attack, but they held their positions in suspended animation.

"What are they waiting for?" Mizuki asked under her breath.

The Akuma looked at each other, and then back at the group. "What are your orders, master Noah?" One of them asked, looking directly at Sarra. Sarra stared back, her mouth gaping.

After a few seconds of confused silence, both Akuma nodded. "As you wish." It responded finally in its deep tenor voice. The two Akuma quickly took to the skies and out of sight before the girls could even take a breath.

"What was that?" Mizuki asked, flabbergasted.

"Was it just talking to you?" Eas asked Sarra. She just stared at the place the Akuma had been in shock.

"Damnit!" Vasilisa growled. Her voice was strained and enraged at the same time. "Sarra! Drop the cat!"

At the same time Vasilisa said this, Sarra let out a painful howl and dropped to the ground. Eas looked over at her, confused and scared.

"What just happened?" She shrieked, kneeling down to Sarra's crumpled and shaking body.

"Get out of the way!"

Eas looked up to see the back of Mizuki's head three inches away from her. She had her bow in both of her hands, holding it in a protective stance. Opposing her, a tall blonde haired woman sat precariously on the edge of her bow. The woman smirked menacingly.

"Wh, who are you?" Mizuki stammered, caught off guard by the strange attacker.

The woman reached her hand up to her eyes, where a pair of small framed tinted glasses sat. Without hesitation she slid them off, opening her eyes. The minute this happened, a dark tone slipped across her face, staining her hair and revealing crosses lining her forehead. The woman's eyes shone a malicious gold, leaving the girls in complete awe.

"Lulu bell." She whispered.

"Wha- What the heck?" The girls regained concentration with Mizuki's scream. From Lulu bell's hand, a long white band extended to Mizuki, slithering around her arm. At the end of the thick white band, a sharp arrow head emerged.

Mizuki struggled with the progressing band while the others took stock of the recent occurrences. Eas hurried to help Sarra, whose chest was drenched with blood.

Seraphina regained mobility in her locked legs, feeling the need to protect greater than the aching fear of the realization of what their attacker really was.

"Mizuki!" She screamed, running to her struggling friend.

Lulu bell launched her self off the bow, landing 10 feet away. She brought her arm up and smashed it down, creating a whip lash effect that sent Mizuki flying into Seraphina.

"Ow! Damnit that hurt! Why's your head so hard?!" Seraphina cried from under Mizuki.

Mizuki didn't have time to answer because Lulu bell was already on the attack. She swung her arm around, bringing Mizuki with it, until she let it go slack, slamming her into a thick birch tree.

"Mizuki!" Seraphina screamed, pushing herself violently off the ground. She invocated her innocence, grabbing hold of her extendable whip. She lashed it out the same way Lulu bell had. The whip extended and grabbed hold of Lulu bells arm.

"Now you'll get a taste of your own medicine!" Seraphina shouted, snapping her whip to make a large vibration. The wave sent Lulu bell flying into the dense spruce. Before she hit a dead maple, however, she flipped and landed gracefully; horizontal to the ground, her knee resting on the middle of the tree.

Mizuki was not so lucky, however. The succession of the wave forced the band around Mizuki's arm to fallow suit with Seraphina's whip, sending Mizuki flying into yet another tree, snapping the thin tree in half from the force.

Noticing the damage her attacks were doing to Mizuki, Seraphina hesitated, weighing her options. Lulu bell took this time to right her self. She jumped from her awkward perch and landed swiftly without sound. She then extended her left hand, producing an identical white band, bearing the same arrow head. She used this to cut her ties to Seraphina.

Seraphina scowled and allowed her whip to recede back to its original length. She grimaced, knowing her whip wasn't much use in this situation.

Lulu bell smirked, sensing her unease, and crouched for another attack. Her characteristics strongly resembled that of a cat. Not surprising, since that was what she had used to ambush them.

The free band lashed out, flying through the air like a possessed serpent, towards Seraphina's head. Before she could react, the sharp arrowhead pierced her forehead, sending her flying back with it. The Arrow then began to twist, boring itself deeper into Seraphina's head.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!" She felt like throwing up. The gut wrenching feeling of a drill tearing up her skin and smashing into her skull was almost enough to make her pass out. The tears streamed from her eyes while her limbs twitched uselessly.

The keening sound and whistle of the breeze passing by brought unlimited relief. The grotesque sounds of ripping flesh and the unimaginable pain receded until only the dull sting and hot blood forming on her forehead was left.

Mizuki exhaled with deep relief and sudden exhaustion when her arrow hit its mark. The limp band and bloodied arrow hung from a nearby tree, pinned by one of Mizuki's golden arrows. She had just gained consciousness when Seraphina's scream had pierced her hearing. Luckily her fast reflexes had aloud her to asses the situation, and react in time to save her.

"Seraphina!" Eas and Vasilisa cried. Vasilisa ran over to asses the damage to her skull, though it seemed to be ok because Seraphina was attempting to sit up.

"Stay down!" Vasilisa cried as a small spurt of blood spat from her forehead like a small fountain.

"I'm fine." Seraphina grunted. "It didn't get far." She added with a grunt, "Thanks, Mizuki."

Mizuki nodded, and sat back in a more relaxed position, ignoring the prickles in her arm from the lack of circulation administered from the tight band.

Lulu bell scowled only slightly, her facial features forming a tight grimace as she yanked her pinned hand from the tree. The Arrow had stung, but it wasn't enough to stop her, not nearly.

She swung her hand again, aiming at the small congregation of girls huddled around Seraphina.

Vasilisa reacted this time, invoking her innocence without sound. The torrent of wind that erupted from in front of her forced Lulu bells attack to change course, and instead she latched onto a thick oak tree.

Vasilisa, now slightly enraged by the number of her comrades, forced the strong winds upon Lulu bell until she was forced to concentrate solely on not being blown away. The arm latched around Mizuki was becoming a nuisance, flapping in the strong winds, and pulling her back. She quickly unleashed Mizuki and instead used it as an attacker, swatting at the wind in hopes of catching its creator.

Vasilisa dodged these attacks easily, forcing the band to recede further if it got to close to her friends.

Mizuki quickly joined them once she was free of Lulu bells grasp. "What do we do?" She asked, frantic and out of breathe.

"We have to fight them!" Eas announced, handing Seraphina some bandages and wipes. The wound wasn't too deep, only bruising the skull, though the skin around the surrounding area was in a rugged mess. Sarra crouched beside Eas, her front completely bandaged, a dark red seeping slowly through, though her face showed no sign of pain.

"No." Seraphina grunted, wrapping her head in the bandages. "That's a Noah there. The crosses and human appearance proves it. She's extremely dangerous, and she can call in reinforcements at any time."

"I thought there was something odd about her." Mizuki mumbled, getting a clearer perspective of their situation.

"What's a Noah?" Seraphina's boot smashed into Eas's face as soon as the words left her mouth. "What the heck was that?" Eas screamed, holding her bleeding nose.

"Didn't you do ANY research?" Seraphina screamed back, clenching her fist.

"Well it wasn't like I've had the chance! I haven't even gotten a proper welcoming!"

"Aww, you poor baby, want me to grab a party hat and stuffed piñata for you?"

"Shut up!"

"Don't ask stupid questions!"

"Guys," Mizuki prompted.

"Knuckle sucker!"

"Old Hag!"

"What'd you just say?"

"What, you didn't hear me, ya deaf old hag!"

"Guys!" Mizuki screamed, disrupting the small feud. Eas released her hand from Seraphina's nose, and dropped her foot from her stomach. Seraphina unleashed Eas's res ear and let go of the fist full of hair in her other hand. "Ok, I think we have more pressing matters than Eas's lack of knowledge." Mizuki pointed back at the whirl wind in front of Vasilisa, holding their enemy.

"Ok, I say we go get help, the others are close, and the golem can easily track them, now that it can sense them." Seraphina stated.

"No! We can't split up! I say we team up and defeat this so called "Noah"!" Eas retorted, sending a glare in Seraphina's direction. Seraphina caught her glare and returned one of her own. Mizuki could swear she saw sparks fly up between them.

"Ok, ok. Unfortunately, now that we know what we're up against, I think getting help is our best chance." Mizuki sighed, hating this idea.

"What?" Eas complained, while Seraphina rejoiced at her win.

"Vasilisa and I can hold off Lulu bell, you two and Sarra go get Kanda and the others." Mizuki continued, stringing her bow. "We'll create a diversion while you guys escape. Sarra, are you going to be ok to run?"

Sarra nodded. "I don't think it's that deep. She just nicked the skin, mostly."

Mizuki nodded. "Don't push it."

"I'll do what I have to." Exorcists were tough, and Sarra didn't like the special attention. Almost everyone else was injured, so she couldn't afford to be wussy. Though if she was with Allen, maybe…

"Great, let's go." Seraphina held her hand out to Sarra as she stood up. Eas stood too, with a grunt of resignation.

"Did you get all that?" Mizuki asked Vasilisa. She nodded and focused harder.

The girls snuck around the edge of the path, weaving around the trees. Mizuki pulled out three arrows and strung them, aiming past Vasilisa's head.

Vasilisa concentrated. _Sonic slice!_ The wind picked up and combined with the strong sonic waves which were moving the air particles to create the wind. This created slices of wind that were as dense as stone. The slices flew threw the air, thrashing at the trees, and bombarding Lulu bell, who was now defending herself with her long arm.

Once free of the mess, the three girls sped their pace to a sprint. They hurried through the path, checking the golem for information.

"What if we don't make it in time?" Eas asked breathlessly.

"We will!" Seraphina growled, dismissing the negative comment. "Kanda will help, and he's got commander Tiedoll with him! We'll get to them and get back, and they'll be fine!" She had to believe it, or else she'd turn back and fight with the others. She felt like a coward running away. The only thing that kept her going was the thought that Kanda was their destination.

"So who's this Kanda guy? Is he some sort of hero? You seem to talk pretty highly of him." Eas probed, curious.

Seraphina lit up. "Th-th-that's none of your business! He's an amazing exorcist, and that's it!"

"Ohh, so you're in love with him!" Eas snickered.

"Am not!" Seraphina bellowed, but her face only grew darker.

"Suuuuurre." Eas said in a sarcastic tone, picking her ear wax as she ran.

"It's true! He's just a really great guy!"

"Wait, are you talking about Kanda? The king of solitude and negativity, and dead bunnies?" Sarra asked, disbelieving that they were talking about the same person.

"He's not the kind of negativity and solitude, and what the heck? Dead bunnies?" Seraphina glowered at the two girls.

"Whoa! He kills bunnies?" Eas asked, surprised and disgusted, she had the picture of an icy king with an award around his neck and dead bunny's strapped around his muscular physic, because if he was that amazing, her had to be supper muscular. For kicks she added a mustache and cape. "Creepy."

"I-"Seraphina was cut off by the buzzing of the golem flapping beside them.

"Who is this?" A crackly voice spoke through the receiver.

"Kanda?" Seraphina nearly ripped the Golem out of the sky. They were still running and it was interesting to see her jump for it. "Kanda! It's me, Seraphina. I'm here with the other girls, we need help!"

A disapproving grunt came from the other side. "What happened? Where are you?"

Seraphina changed completely when she was talking to Kanda. It seemed like she had switched with Alexandreina. She was bubbly and didn't seem to have a care in the world.

"What was that grunt for!? Komui sent us after you for back up, but we were attacked by a Noah! We shouldn't be far from you now, since we can communicate."

Another grunt. "We don't need back up, you just turned into a burden. Che, ok, you guys can't handle a Noah on your own? We've got business to deal with. Che, wait, ok, keep running, and we'll meet up with you. Maybe Marie can help you."

Seraphina's mood dropped slightly. "Damn, if we're that much of a burden, we'll handle it on our own!"

"No!" The Golems receiver exploded with negative energy. You could hear silent cusses as Kanda looked for some way to correct the situation. "Just, come here. We'll sort it out then."

He disconnected the line before Seraphina could answer. Her mood scared both Sarra and Eas. It was a mix between anger and overwhelming joy.

"He defiantly sounded like a bunny killer." Eas whispered to Sarra, who in turn gave her a slight nod, afraid to attract attention to her self.

"C'mon." Seraphina nearly tore up the path in her effort to reach the meeting place. Farther behind, the others cried to her.

"Seraphina, we can't go that fast!"

Seraphina jogged back to them. "What are you two waiting for? We have to hurry!"

"Or else the ice king will stew us with his bunnies?" Eas asked innocently.

"You'll take that back." Seraphina growled, cracking her knuckles.

"S-sure." Eas smiled, hoping she hadn't wet herself.

"Ok, where are we going?" Seraphina looked at the golem, but it gave no report. "Huh, that's weird." She shook the thing, but it only gave a fuzzy gurgle.

"Maybe it's bad reception?" Sarra asked.

"I guess, you think if we moved it would help get its feed back? I didn't know it could get bad reception. Maybe their in a ditch..."

The girls moved from the path and into the dense forest, climbing trees, and waving it around. After a while with no luck, the girls gave up.

"I guess it's more than just interference, maybe this Golem is toast." Seraphina finally suggested.

"Or maybe it's theirs that's toast." Eas thought.

"Or maybe you could close your mouth." Seraphina said, worry lines forming on what was visible of her forehead.

"Sorry, it was just a thought." Eas mumbled, noticing her stressed figure.

"Ok, let's go back to the path; if we fallow that, we should be able to find them." Seraphina concluded.

"Uhh, guys," Sarra tapped them on the shoulder. "Do either of you know which way the path is?"  
All three of the girls looked around frantically for something familiar.

"Great! I can't believe we got lost!" Seraphina cried, running frantically through the trees.

"We'll just have to wing it." Sarra said. "I think we were heading east, weren't we? So let's continue in that direction."

The massive conjunction of Akuma smashed Krowley and bookman into one of the many storage houses in Edo. This one seemed to hold a multitude of paintings.

"C,can you move, Alyster?" Bookman asked from beneath a pile of rubble.

"Yeah…Damn that big hunk of junk!" Krowley cursed back.

Soon a sudden disappearance of the wall, and an extra pile of rubble announced Lavi's arrival. His feet hung in the air as he fought the dizziness of the blow.

"Lavi?" The two cried out in surprise.

"Yo." He coughed, giving an upside down wave.

The group had arrived in Japan with casualty's, but made their way to Edo in determination, where they were confronted by the Earl, a handful of the Noah family, and every Akuma in Japan. Seeking revenge for what he did to Allen, whose status was unknown, Lavi challenged Tyki. Krowley and Bookman were left to face off with the conjunction of Akuma which had molded into an enormous, seemingly unbeatable Akuma. Miranda protected the others with her time control ability's.

"Excorcist-sama!" One of the recruits from the boat screamed from their base on one of the houses.

Tyki, one of the Noah, had taken a hold of Lenalee, who was left struggling to get free. Miranda collapsed from exhaustion and Tyki commanded his tease to devour the recruits.

Just in the nick of time, Kanda appeared, forcing Tyki into battle. Retrieving Lenalee, and with the assistance of Lavi, they were able to fend him off. Marie took care of the giant Akuma with his innocence, saving the others.

Unfortunately, The Earl used an attack that totally whipped out Edo's landscape, leaving only the exorcists, and the recruits which Miranda saved by activating a time out. Lenalee was once again encased in a blue-green crystal that was perceived as her innocence. The Earl became aware of this strange phenomenon, and his interest spiked. Kanda and Lavi were forced into a battle with Tyki and Skin Boric while The Earl interrogated and attacked Lenalee.

Just as he was about to destroy her innocence, Allen appeared from the Noah passage provided by an assassin Akuma to save her. The Earl and Allen, with his new found clown crown innocence dueled it out, until The Earl used an attack to escape in order to prepare for the Ark's departure, dragging Tyki and Skin Boric with him.

The group was left to wonder were their attackers had gone.

"Finally!" Seraphina emerged from the now darkened forest, into a clear cliff face.

"There's the end of the path, so we must be here." Sarra nodded, looking to the right of the creepy woods they had emerged from.

"What the hell?" Eas pointed a shaking hand to the distance.

The entire landscape was wiped clean of any vegetation or buildings, or anything, except one lone tower and a few blots.

"Hey, is that…?" Seraphina and Sarra flew over the cliff face and started running head long towards the tower.

"What the- Where are you guys going?" Eas slid down the cliff slowly, jumping off before she hit the bottom and followed the girls.

"Allen!!!" Sarra nearly knocked Allen to the ground as she jumped onto him, slinging her arms around his neck. This was very uncharacteristic of her, but the time between their separation and his almost death had made her bolder.

"S-S-Sarra?" He stuttered, surprised by her sudden appearance. "What are you doing here?"

"We were assigned to back you guys up! Though we didn't do a very good job of it." She slid back down to the ground and looked around. "What's that big crystal thing?"

Allen looked to Lavi for an explanation.

"It's Lenalee, well, actually, it's her innocence, it's using that form to protect her." Lavi shrugged, still slightly confused by the makings of the object.

"Oh. Ok?" Sarra said, not completely satisfied.

"She's ok, though, right?" Allen asked. Lavi nodded.

"You were supposed to meet us at the cliff!" Seraphina cut their conversation with her accusations.

"I was close enough! I told you we had business to deal with!" Kanda barked back, his temper as short as ever.

"And your communications Golem, it shorted out too!"

"And that's my fault?"

"Yes."

"Che."

"Don't "Che" me!"

"I'll do what I want!"

"They sound like an old married couple." Allen chuckled, earning death threats from both.

"You're not hurt, are you?" Sarra asked abruptly, looking for any wounds.

Allen shook his head. "I got here at the end, to save the day." He added with a smirk. "But now that I think about it, what about you?" He scanned her face and then lowered his eyes to her bandaged chest. His eyes immediately returned to her face, his normally pale skin flushing a light pink. "Can I get you a coat?" He asked, gentlemanly as ever.

Sarra looked down and noticed why he had averted his eyes. The slash had ripped off the greater part of the front of her jacket, so she didn't bother doing anything to cover her bandages and uncovered stomach. Her own face lit up bright red and she nodded. Lavi handed him one of the cloaks their group had worn and Allen wrapped her in it. "Th-thanks." She whispered, her confidence totally destroyed by the event.

"Your head is bleeding." Kanda grunted, pointing to the blood seeping from the bandage.

"Wow, congrats, captain obvious." Seraphina rolled her eyes, though her cheeks warmed.

"Che, here." He took out a roll of bandages from his coat and unraveled the one on her head. When he got a glimpse of what was underneath, he stopped. "Wha-"

Seraphina ripped away in furious embarrassment. "I know! It's grotesque! I can wrap it by myself!" Her hands flew up to her head. In the same action, Kanda's hands wrapped themselves around hers.

"No, I-" His face flashed hurt for a second. This passed quickly as he regained composure, reminding himself of his company. Instead he grabbed her head and unraveled the fresh bandages in one sweep and then began wrapping her head, as gently as he could manage with the gaping audience. He cursed under his breath but continued unraveling the roll around her head. When she began to squirm, her held her firmer. "If you move, it's going to come undone, and then I'll have to start all over again." He growled. Seraphina fell silent and waited until her was finished.

"K-K-Kanda!" Allen and Lavi shared the same face. Jaws slack, eyes popping. "Y-you can actually be n-n-nice?!"

"Mugen!"

"Hey, Guys! Why didn't you wait?" Eas approached the exorcists, her breathing uneven.

"Oh yeah!" Sarra announced, remembering what they had come there for. "Guys, we need help! Mizuki and Vasilisa are fighting a Noah all on their own, and Alexandreina is wounded and passed out!"

The group silenced completely.

"Alexandreina? You mean that strange little girl who umm, hugged me, that one time?" Krowley coughed, remembering the day the girls had chosen to relieve their boredom with a game of truth or dare.

Sarra stifled a giggle. This situation was not funny.

"Wait, what? Why did you leave them?" Lavi interrupted his face intense.

"We can't Defeat a Noah! We were coming here to get help!" Seraphina shouted in defense.

"Exactly! They'll get killed! Where are they?" Lavi stepped on his hammer, ready to extend.

"No way! Sorry dude, but you wouldn't be much help; we need someone a bit stronger, that isn't torn up." Seraphina said, rejecting his help.

"It's been to long! I don't think they could hold it off this long!" Eas cried, nearly in tears.

"Marie, can you hear their heart beats?" Tiedoll asked in his gruff voice.

Marie concentrated, broadening his range. "There are four heart beats in that direction, though two of them are very faint." Marie reported.

"Damnit!" Lavi cursed.

"Marie, why don't you come with us?" Seraphina suggested. "You'd be great at tracking their heart beats, and you don't seem too injured." Marie nodded.

"I can get you guys there faster!" Lavi complained.

"You just want to see your Mizuki!" Seraphina accused. "Besides, in your condition, you'll barely be able to carry yourself, let alone three others. We'll be better off without you."

"Then why don't I go, too?" Allen suggested. Sarra was about to agree, but Seraphina cut her off.

"You and Tiedoll are about the only completely uninjured ones here, what if the others come back again? It's too risky. You guys stay here and protect the group, we'll take care of the others, besides, we can handle one Noah." Seraphina said, shaking her head and grabbing Marie's arm.

"Very well, come back when you've retrieved the others." Tiedoll concluded.

"What? But that won't be enough! I should go too!"

"Give it up, Lavi." Book man grunted.

The girls rushed through the path, checking Marie for updates every few minutes.

"It's not far now!" Sarra shouted as they began to recognize the surroundings better.

On their last stretch Marie stopped abruptly. "Akuma!" He shouted, holding onto his headphones. The girls looked around, trying to identify the attacker. "Above!"

A large metal dragon smashed down from the sky, forcing the ground to shake.

"That's a freaking big Akuma!" Eas Cried.

Marie almost smirked. "Leave it to me!" He strung threads of innocence to his fingers and shot them at the dragon. Sensing this, the dragon created a large whirl wind that scrambled the threads. It flapped its wings and two tornadoes formed, their fierce winds threatening the gravity on the group.

"You three go! I'll finish this one and then catch up with you after! Hurry to your friends!" Marie turned to the dragon, and restrung his fingers, dodging the ominous tornadoes and whirlwinds.

The girls nodded and sneaked past the Akuma. They ran head long until they could no longer see the large creature.

"There!" Sarra shouted, spotting the torn up trees and rugged terrain. Just beyond that spot Mizuki and Vasilisa lay strewn on the ground. The girls ran to them, dropping beside them.

"Mizuki!" Sarra cried.

"Vasilisa!" Seraphina shouted.

"Where's the Noah?" Eas shrieked, turning around frantically. "Where's the-"She stopped when she caught a glimpse of something shiny behind the first set of trees. She etched closer, fearful of what she might find. When she reached the spot the light was hitting, the moon cleared from the clouds, revealing the golden arrow.

"W-what?" Eas stammered, uncomprehendingly.

Hanging from the tree Mizuki's pale body hung limply. Her own arrow had been stabbed through her shoulder and into the giant oak behind her. A fresh trickle of blood streamed from her mouth. "M,Mizuki, What's the meaning of this?"

"Damnit!" Seraphina's cry alarmed Eas. Hesitant on what she should do, she rushed to her friend. Sarra was leaning over Mizuki's body, to still to be normal. Seraphina was in the process of invoking her innocence. She pointed her whip at Sarra, her eyes blazing.

"What the hell are you doing?" Eas demanded, grabbing Seraphina's arm.

"Get off of me!" Seraphina shrieked, yanking Eas off.

Eas lunged at her again, but she ducked and pulled Sarra back. From her stomach, bright crimson blood poured, seeping to the ground.

"How'd that happen?" Eas turned to stare at Mizuki, but her body was no longer there.

"Damnit, I knew it! She has the power to shape shift! She stole Mizuki's image to trick us!" Seraphina growled, looking around.

"Then the real Mizuki," Eas caught her breath. "We have to get her down! The real Mizuki is pinned to a tree!"

"Wait!" Seraphina screamed grabbing hold of the back of Eas's coat. "We have to find the Noah first! What if she pretends to be one of us?"

"Then let's make a secret word or something! I have to get Mizuki down! We can't just leave her up there!"

"Fine!" Seraphina growled. "What will it be?"

Eas brought her face up to Seraphina's ear and whispered quickly.

"Got that?"

"Yeah, though I have to say, that's pretty immature." Seraphina smirked.

"Yeah, whatever. It may save out butts. You stay on look out; I'm going to round up our friends."

Seraphina nodded as Eas ran back to Mizuki.

The limp girl hung still as ever and Eas feared she was too late. Climbing half way up the tree, Eas carefully slid the arrow out. Since the wound was in the shoulder, and Mizuki was already passed out, she figured it would be ok.

Mizuki fell to the ground with a hard thud, the blood pooling beneath her. Eas squeaked and jumped down to her.

"Ack! I'm sorry Mizuki! I'll get you help! Don't worry, you'll be fine!"

Eas dragged Mizuki's body to the path, setting her near the others. She took a step towards Seraphina, but she growled.

"What's the password?"

Eas nodded and stepped closer, cupping her hand to Seraphina's ear and whispered the password.

"Very good." Seraphina smirked. A sharp piercing sting brought Eas to unconsciousness.

"Alexandreina!" Seraphina cried, shaking her friend. She wanted to keep guard, but she couldn't leave her friend in the trees undefended. "Alexandreina, you need to wake up!"

"Seraphina?" Seraphina whipped around, but exhaled slightly when Eas appeared from the path.

"Did you get Mizuki? How is she?" Seraphina asked in concern.

Eas looked back into the path. "I think she'll be alright. None of her vital points were hit."

"Good." Seraphina sighed in contentment. "Oh!" She remembered. "What's the password?"

Eas nodded. "It's cookies."

Seraphina hesitated, and then smiled. "Good. Ok, let's get Alexandreina back to the rest."

Eas nodded and grabbed one of Alexandreina's arms.

"Actually, you're so small; you won't be of any help to me." Seraphina sneered.

"Ok." Eas nodded, dropping Alexandreina's arm.

"Oh, and Eas?"

"Yes?"

Eas's hand moved to her neck as Seraphina's whip slid around it.

"I've never really liked you." She stuck out her tongue as Eas's body changed form.

"How did you know?" Lulu bell asked calmly, scratching at the twisting wires.

"It was obvious from the very beginning; I just wanted to make sure. You see, Eas is stupid, but not stupid enough to yell out a password. Among other mistakes. But that was the first." Seraphina slung Alexandreina over her shoulder and walked towards the path, grasping her whip tightly.

"Why are you not finishing me off?" Lulu bell asked, not fighting against Seraphina's tugs.

"I have some questions I want answered." Seraphina answered simply. "But first, I want to make sure my friends are safe and alive."

The Whip made its way down Lulu bells figure, twisting around her hands and all the way to her feet until she was completely bound by it.

"Try anything at all, and I'll toast you." Seraphina growled as she examined the worst of the casualty's, Sarra. She noticed the wound on Sarra's stomach wasn't as deep as she thought it was. She turned to Lulu bell. "Why didn't you kill her?"

Lulu bell's mouth twitched. "She was smarter than I had anticipated. She placed an exploding ball right in front of my attack. It shattered half my arrow head and so it didn't penetrate very deep."

Seraphina nodded, glad for this. _We really need a healer in our group._ She thought.

"Vas?" Alexandreina's words rung in Seraphina's ears. "Hey, Vasilisa, you ok? You're all scraped up."

"Alexandreina?" Seraphina turned her head to see Alexandreina kneeling over her sister.

"Seraphina?" What happened? ...Who's she?"

"There's no time to explain. Can you help me bandage everyone?"

Alexandreina nodded. "Wow. They got messed up good. It must have been a wicked fight! I wish I'd been awake for it!"

"We could have used you!" Seraphina chuckled, glad not to have to be the only one awake.

The girls patched up the others, assessing their injuries in rank, Sarra's chest and stomach wounds to be number two, second to Mizuki, whose shoulder was completely drilled through, leaving her left arm probably immobile. Next was Vasilisa, who had shallow cuts all over her body. They weren't exactly sure why she was unconscious. Finally, Eas's head wound, which was more blunt force than a slice. She'd only be out for a few minutes. The girls finished the assessment and deliberated on what to do next. They decided to wait until some of the others woke up before they made their way back with the hostage.

Three minutes later Eas sat up, rubbing the back of her head, tears flowing from the stinging.

Ten minutes later Vasilisa was attacked by her sister after she mumbled her name.

Sarra and Mizuki stayed past out for the interrogation.

"What are you guys planning?" Seraphina demanded, earning no response.

"Why are you all congregated in Japan?" Alexandreina asked with enthusiasm. Still no response.

"Are you really evil?" Eas earned another boot in the head, making her burst into tears again.

"Answer the freaking questions!" Seraphina growled, freezing the whip until Lulu bell was able to see her own breath.

"We're leaving now." Was the only message she conveyed after 15 minutes of probing.

"What's that supposed to me-"Seraphina was cut off when a large round pentacle shone from the ground. Lulu bell disappeared quickly into the strange circle, pulling Seraphina with her. Eas grabbed onto her. When Eas was almost completely pulled through, Vasilisa grabbed on, then Alexandreina following that. She also hooked Mizuki and Sarra so no one would be left behind.

The circle closed up and the forest returned to a peaceful silence, as if the rowdy bunch had never intruded.

(Authors note: This fan fiction is mostly intended for those who are following the series and are up to date. The reason I condensed the fight with Allen's group was because it was only intended to be a marker. Please do not be angry if you have not read/watched this far in the anime."


	11. Skin Boric

* * *

Umm, ok, I am SOOOOO Sorry for all of you still following the story! I've been tre busy lately and havn't had the time to do this.

Anyways, regardless, Here it is, in all it's glory, chapter 11.

I would also like to appologize for all the characters who are not in this chapter, I promise, you will have your turn. And for all you Kanda Seraphina lovers, well, this is a good day ;D

ok, again, sorry for the lateness, and Oh! I definitely don't own D. Gray-man or else I would have gotten Fo to kiss Bak already!!!

* * *

"Get off o' me!!!" Seraphina shrieked as her lungs threatened to collapse from the weight her friends had ensued upon her. The group had fallen three meters from the strange pentacle now placed oddly in the sky, landing on a coble stone walkway in a large heap. As soon as the last girl was out, the pentacle vanished. The order from bottom to top went as follows; Seraphina at the base of the pile, Eas sprawled on top of her, Alexandreina sitting contentedly at the top with Vasilisa on her lap and Mizuki and Sarra draping from her shoulders. Lulu bell was no where in sight.

When it seemed apparent Alexandreina was content with her position at the top of the pile, Seraphina attempted what seemed to be suicide by igniting her whip. More harm came to her and Eas then to Alexandreina, but it got the job done.

Once the girls had disassembled themselves, they assessed their surroundings. The houses were built up in a granite texture and pale colour, the variety few to say the least. The cobble stone walk way led up through a twisting torrent of houses and intersecting passages until it ended at the highest point noticeable in their surroundings, a large tower with many columns and statues pointing high into the sky.

Before the girls had time to properly discuss a plan, a small girl with shocking blue hair and a lollipop twirling in her hand appeared nearby along the walkway. The group watched in tentative fascination while the girl, bearing a small white dress that billowed as she skipped bound merely towards them, humming a strange tune.

As the girl approached them, the conscious exorcists got into a more protective stance, ready to activate their innocence at any moment.

The girl, however, bore no weapon, or anything else to prove her to be a Noah. She came to a halt right in front of the group, a friendly smile settled on her face.

"What do you want from us?" Seraphina growled, obviously not fooled by the girls' appearance.

"Can you tell us where we are?" Eas was a little less inclined to jump to conclusions, and was more comfortable with the small girl, feeling no need to be rash.

"You're on the ark!" The girl sang, twirling around.

"How do we get out of here?" Vasilisa inclined, looking around for an obvious exit.

"There aren't any."

The four girls looked to the new comer with shocked expressions.

"What do you mean, there aren't any? We got in here, right? Then there must be a way to get out!" Seraphina bellowed, annoyed with the girls light spirit.

"Well, there is one way, but you're supposed to fall away with the rest of the ark." The girl giggled.

"Fall away? What do you mean? Aren't you using this ark?" Alexandreina asked excitedly, she was strangely intrigued with their doom.

"More importantly, how do we get out?" Vasilisa countered, rolling her eyes at her sister's enthusiasm.

"We have a new ark, this one is old so once we've finished downloading it to the other ark it will be of no use to us, and merely crumble away, along with you guys…" A strange look came over the girl, raising the hairs on the back of the group member's necks. Her smile widened extraordinarily and her eyes became shadows. "It'd be so much more fun if we could play a little though, don't you think?"

No one answered. A strong wave of insecurity and fright engulfed them, forcing silence.

A gold key appeared in the girls' bare hand, the hilt bending into a symmetrical pattern. Just as soon as it had appeared, the frightening face was replaced by her friendly smile. She held her hand out to the group, offering them the key.

"Follow the trail of doors up to the very highest point of the ark where you will find a portal. It will lead you to safety, that is, if you make it there in time." One last dark chuckle and the girl with gone; the key left spinning on the ground.

"What the hell was that?" Mizuki's voice echoed behind the group. She was sitting in an upright position, but had her arm was cradled in her lap. A confused and slightly frustrated look was plastered across her face.

"Mizuki, you're ok!" Eas cried, rushing to her.

"Yeah, what happened?"

"Well, if you weren't so weak as to get defeated by a measly Noah, you would have been all caught up by now." Seraphina growled, rolling her eyes when Eas stuck her tongue out at her.

"Whatever, I guess I'll figure it out eventually." Mizuki mumbled, struggling to get up without putting pressure on her arm. She rummaged through the small sack attached to her belt and came out with a silky cloth.

"It's for keeping my hair back, but it'll work equally as well as a sling." She explained when the girls shot her inquiring gazes.

"Does it matter which door we use?" Alexandreina had already scooped up the key and was eyeing the key hole of the nearest door.

"I don't know." Seraphina answered with a shrug. "Try it."

As soon as the key slid into the unused slot, the bare white door exploded with colour.

"Wha, what the heck?" The girls looked at the bright arrangement of colour splashed in rainbows across the door, their faces displaying shock, disgust, amusement, and even excitement.

"So," Alexandreina paused, holding the word for a few seconds before continuing her sentence. "What's behind door number one?"

The door creaked open after Alexandreina had boldly turned the knob, revealing the most horrifying sight half the girls had ever seen.

The entire room, or so it should have been, the corners where so obscured in the mess of colours it was hard to tell, looked very similar to what the door had. The theme seemed to be a night rainbow since the room was blanketed in a navy blue, sporting moons and rainbows every where they looked. The floor looked unpaved, sand covering the entire surface. Brown rock fixtures were built up throughout the room, adding an eerie effect.

"Whoa, what a weird room." The girls filed out into the strange place, looking around curiously.

"Where do you think the next door is?" Eas asked, taking a few steps further into the room.

"Don't let your guard down. I don't think that little girl would make it so easy for us to get to the portal." Seraphina had taken it upon herself to carry Sarra. She wasn't all that heavy so it wasn't too much of a burden for her.

"She's right, "Vasilisa stated, scanning the area suspiciously. " I'm sure there's some challenge waiting for us in this room."

Eas sighed. "You guys are all way too stressed. It's a race, isn't it? We should hurry and find the next door before this place starts to fall away." She wandered further into the room until she was completely out of sight.

"Stupid little brat." Seraphina growled, shoving Sarra off to Alexandreina while she chased after Eas.

When she rounded the corner, however, she was met by someone other than Eas. The big hulky being was so familiar to her, she recognized him immediately. The wicked sneer plastered on his face accompanied by a misplaced looking lollipop made Seraphina's hair stand on end and her fists clench unconsciously. This was the man she had sworn to destroy, and he was standing no more than five meters away from her.

"Skin Boric." She snarled.

* * *

Mizuki and the girls waited a few moments without any reply. They decided to aid Seraphina in her quest to retrieve Eas, but what they found instead was an intense stand off between their very own Seraphina, and a large, dark, and bulky man sporting an enormous over coat.

"Seraphina! Who is that?" Mizuki called to her.

"A monster." She responded shortly, taking out her whip.

The girls watched as the whip unfolded, swaying in her trembling hands.

"Don't worry, Seraphina, we'll help you!" Alexandreina chirped, but as soon as she took a step closer, a roaring fire sprung up between her and her friend.

Seraphina no longer had her back to her friends. Instead, they got a full view of her twisted face. The pure loathing was so evident on her face it looked like she had been possessed.

"This ones mine." She growled demonically, drawing back her flaming whip.

"But he's probably a Noah; you can't possibly win a fight against him!" Mizuki stated obviously.

Seraphina shook her head. "I have an issue that needs to be settled with him. You guys find the door and go ahead; I'll catch up when I'm done."

"Sounds like she's met him before." Mizuki whispered to the others.

"Are you sure you don't need help?" Vasilisa called to her. Seraphina nodded once, her face still a mask of anger.

Vasilisa shrugged and started around the circle, aiming in the direction Eas had been going. The others shouted to her in confusion.

"Have you ever seen Seraphina like that before? She's serious. Besides, I'm sure she'll know if it's too much for her, and run to the exit if she needs to." Vasilisa answered them nonchalantly.

The girls looked over to Seraphina with hesitant eyes, but noticing her death glare, decided to take Vasilisa's advice and leave.

"You owe us for this." Alexandreina grumbled, displeased that she was leaving a good fight behind.

"Shut up, I'm sure you'll have plenty of fights ahead of you to enjoy." Seraphina shouted back, a small smirk etched into her otherwise demonic features. "Now," She started, turning back to Skin once her friends had left. "Let's begin."

* * *

"Where's Seraphina?" Eas asked as she leapt down the steps leading to an older looking house.

"She bumped into an old friend." Mizuki joked. "I swear she acts more and more like Kanda every day." Mizuki shuddered at the thought of two Kanda's.

"Will she be ok?" Eas asked, confused by Mizuki's words.

"That girls as stubborn as a mule. She won't be defeated." Alexandreina chuckled, though she was still upset.

"Let's get going." Vasilisa requested, taking the key from her sisters' hand and sliding it into the locked door. Once again, the door lit up, only this time it stayed nearly the same as it was before, _Noah_ being the only new thing, plastered across the middle of the door in blocked golden letters.

"You'd better follow us, Seraphina, or I'll get teddy to stalk you!" Eas screamed before disappearing behind the door.

* * *

"He he, nice friends, leaving you behind." Skin chuckled maliciously.

"Do you remember me?" Seraphina cut right to the point, ignoring Skins mocking.

"Hehehe, of course, how could I forget such a _sissy?_"

"Well, I've grown a lot since then." She smiled, remembering the pained training days. It had all been for this moment. She hoped it would be enough.

Skins body began to mutate, a gold crust enveloping his entire body, swivelling spikes protruding from it like a suns rays.

"Tell me," He sneered, "Do you like sweets?"

Seraphina chuckled darkly. "Same as last time, I hate them."

* * *

"I hate them!" Seraphina spat out two pink spheres onto the whizzing ground beneath them. The girl she was assigned to had just pushed the two sweetest candies she had ever tasted into her mouth. It was bad enough she was stuck baby sitting a kid, but having her taste buds attacked by the sticky pink sweets was too much. She nearly jumped out of the wagon and walked back to the train station. Unfortunately, it had been her orders, so she could do no such thing.

"So where does this friend of yours live again?" Seraphina asked, remembering her mission.

The mission had been her first, and with her terrible luck was pared up with the most aggravating, stuck up snob she had ever met. The minute he turned her greeting down the first time they met she knew they would be enemies.

The order had received news of a disturbance in a nearby area. Children had been going missing along with some other sketchy happenings, so as sort of an initiation or punishment as Seraphina saw it, the two were sent to check it out.

"She lives just over that hill." The girl pointed to an upcoming slope.

Seraphina eyed Kanda who was grumpily sitting on the opposite side of the carriage, arms folded and eyes glued to the horizon.

Seraphina almost wanted to punch him for his silence. The train ride there had nearly driven her crazy. All he had wanted to do was brood.

"So when was the last time you saw her?" Seraphina questioned, still unsure of why they were seeing the girls' friend.

The first place the two exorcists had gone to was one of a deeply religious mother and her daughter. The daughter was one of the only children left in the village and so the two were ordered to keep watch over her.

The girl, whose name they found out was Mary, seemed to be a pleasant young girl as opposed to her obsessive mother, who in her delight to find exorcists at her door, insisted that her child was possessed by the devil and needed exorcizing.

Once the mother had been dealt with, the two had questioned the child. Mary had stated that each day fewer and fewer of her friends would arrive at school, and those that did started acting strangely. Eventually she began following her friends, wondering what they had been up to. That was when she saw the big man. He had most of her friends with him and was barking out strange orders. She had gotten scared and ran back home, but the following day when she asked her friends about it, they denied ever being with him. She was about to go question her closest friend about it when the exorcists showed up.

"I saw her about three days ago, during class. I thought she was about the only normal person still in class, so I really wanted to ask her if she saw anything weird in the others as well." Mary was fiddling with the edges of her dress, her eyebrows furrowed. This was clearly bugging her.

Seraphina sighed and looked over to Kanda. "Does that sound like an Akuma?" She asked, knowing he would know much better than her what to look for.

He gave an indignant huff and shot her an annoyed glare.

Seraphina fumed. "Fine! I'll solo this mission! Sorry this is too much for you!"

Kanda stared back at her irritably. "This is my mission too, I would suggest you go back to the order and stop being a nuisance." He responded coldly, his eyes straying back to their destination.

"Oh, yeah, right, because you were SO helpful during the questionings. YOU just sat there and BROODED while I did all the work!" Seraphina screamed back, beyond irritated with the boy.

Mary chuckled. "You guys must be good friends."

The area surrounding the carriage got cold as the two exorcists shot the little girl deadly looks.

"We are not friends." They growled in unison.

"Sure you aren't." The girl winked, reaching into her pocket and coming out with another pink candy.

The house was small but quaint as Mary stepped inside, calling for her friend. The girls' mother entered from the kitchen, surprised to see so many guests.

"Hey Molly! Where's Steph?" Mary inquired.

Just as she did so, Steph came pounding down the stairs, another friend in toe.

"Steph! Jasmine? I have some visitors that want to talk to you, and I have some questions, too." Mary said, meeting them at the bottom of the stairs.

"Oh yeah? Well can it wait? Jasmine was about to show me something really cool!" Steph smiled.

Mary looked questioningly at Jasmine who gave her a swift nod, her eyes glued to the exorcists behind Mary.

"Ok, how long will you be? When should I come back?" Mary asked, looking hesitantly at the girls mother, she hoped it wouldn't be to long before she could talk to her friend alone.

Steph looked back at Jasmine then returned her gaze to Mary. "Well, why don't you come with us?"

Mary nodded excitedly, the sooner the better, she turned back to the exorcists, a pleading look on her face. "We can question her on the way." She suggested, hoping to gain acceptance from them.

"Humph." Kanda started, turning away from the kids. "Do what you want. I have no time to chase children around all day." Without looking at Seraphina he added, "I'm going to investigate the other parents from the town and possibly find something actually USEFUL to this investigation." With that he stormed off, leaving Seraphina in a hard spot. She didn't know weather she should follow him or keep tabs on the kid. Figuring he could handle himself, she decided to accept Mary's suggestion. She decided that if anything did happen with the kids, she could at least get all the credit and kick Kanda off his high horse.

The girls sped down the hill, missing a few trees on the way as they rushed after Jasmine.

"Have you noticed anything strange about the other kids?" Mary asked breathlessly.

Steph looked at her in surprise. "What do you mean? Are you talking about the disappearances?"

Mary shook her head and moved closer to her friend. "I mean the kids that are still at school, have you noticed anything different about them?"

Steph shook her head and looked at Jasmine. "Hey, Jas, have you noticed anything strange about the other kids in the class?"

Jasmine shook her head once and continued on her way, dodging down hidden corridors.

As they passed one of the main streets, Jasmine stopped. The three girls nearly collided with her, Seraphina actually crashing to the ground. She quickly shot back up in embarrassment, noticing Jasmine whispering to Mary. She quickly turned away when she caught Seraphina staring at her.

Mary had a confused expression on her face, but quickly wiped it off when Jasmine gave her a pointed look.

"Miss exorcist?" She began. "Umm, Jasmine says only Steph and I can see the surprise. Would you be able to wait here for us?"

Seraphina started in surprise. "No, well, I'm sorry Mary, but I don't think I should leave you alone…" She was suspicious of this and didn't want Mary running around with two other children when something was targeting them. It was more then dangerous.

"Please miss? Jasmine says it's not far away, and I'll come back right afterwards!" Mary continued.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think it's wise to leave you three alone when something's targeting you!" Seraphina voiced her concerns. "Why can't I just come, I wont share any secrets."

Mary looked hopefully over to Jasmine but was returned with a swift shake of her head.

Seraphina shot an annoyed glare at the girl, it was like she was 12 again, getting excluded from things by others. This age was very annoying.

One last look at Mary and she sighed. She new Mary wouldn't stop unless she got what she wanted, or would be excluded herself, so she decided to merely follow the girls instead. It would help if anything did spring up since she would have the element of surprise.

"Fine." She sighed once again. "But you can't be long. I'll be waiting here when you get back."

Mary smiled up at her in thanks and then quickly sprinted to her friends, who had already started down the path.

Seraphina waited until they walked around a corner to follow. She crept through the ally way, wondering where it could possibly lead too.

The corridor led through many bends and intersections, Seraphina almost lost them a few times. It had been quite some time since she had started the maze like path and the sun was hanging low in the sky. Seraphina was beginning to worry about finding her way back in the dark when she heard the ear piercing scream. It was blood curdling and mournful, but it was what Seraphina needed to locate how far away they were. She quickly bolted towards the place the scream resounded from, finding herself in an open street, populated by run down and deserted buildings. She quickly looked around for the girls, nearly vomiting from the sight she looked upon.

Mary was quivering in a ball, her features shadowed by her friend, whose body looked similar to Swiss cheese. Her arms were raised in a protective stance. As she fell down, black stars enveloping her body, Seraphina was finally able to see what had murdered Steph. A large, ugly round mettle machine covered in enormous barrels floated in the air in front of the girls, a frightening mask plastered on its front. Mary scrambled over to her friend, cradling her mangled form in her arms, sobs ripping from her chest. The smile etched into her friends face before she exploded into dust looked as if she wouldn't have wanted the scene to play out any other way.

Mary clung to the remnants of Stephs clothes and continued to cry, ignoring the vicious demon looming over her.

Just as the Akuma prepared to fire again, a flaming whip cut through it, severing the Akuma in half, both sides exploding into a fiery fury to match that of Seraphina's whip.

She hadn't even realized what she was doing until the whip was out and searching for the Akuma. She was grateful she had done it in time to save at least one of the children.

After she was sure the Akuma had been destroyed, Seraphina rushed to the quivering child.

"Mary! Calm down! Where's Jasmine?" She inquired, attempting to pull the resisting child up.

"Th, that thing c, came out of her!" Mary sobbed, crying into the clothes of her friend.

_Great, this kids going to have some major problems after this._ Seraphina sighed. "I'm sorry, but we need to get going, it's not safe out here."

Mary shook her head, but no longer resisted to Seraphina's pulls.

A brisk wind alerted Seraphina As one of the huge bullets whizzed passed her. With a jerk, she turned around to face no less then 20 Akuma, their grotesque barrels and mournful faces pointed straight at her.

"Crap Crap Crap CRAP!" Seraphina cursed as she ducked into the alleyway, dragging Mary with her just as a down pour of Bullets plummeted to the ground where they had just been.

Seraphina panted, the adrenaline bursting through her. Mary had sobered up and was now staring at the cratered street with saucer eyes.

"Ok, you're going to have to do exactly what I say." Seraphina instructed the girl. "Hide behind that wall and don't move! I'll try to destroy them all, but if I can't handle them, I want you to start running. Find the other exorcist and bring him here." She shook the girl until she gave her a confirmation.

Making sure Mary was hidden and out of sight, Seraphina leapt into the opening to face her gruesome opponents.

Gun shots rang in the air as Seraphina used her athletics to dodge the bullets and deflect them with her whip. She managed to get five Akuma down in one shot of her whip, extending it to its fullest reach.

Just as she was about to ignite her whip for a final blow, a rouge bullet shot at the whip, separating it from it's owner and sending it flying further into the street. Seraphina lunged for it but heard the sharp ring of a fired bullet before she reached it.

As she crashed to the ground, she internally wondered where she had been hit. She couldn't feel any pain so she figured she might already be dead. It didn't seem fair that she had to die so early in her life and on her first mission no less. She could picture that horrible Kanda guy, going back to the order, with a smug expression lighting up his features. He never even bothered to call her name.

"Seraphina"

She guessed it would sound like that. The irritated growl was perfect, and the way he pronounced it slow and precise was exactly how she would picture him saying it.

"Seraphina you idiot."

She was beginning to get irritated with herself now. _Ok, yeah I know I wanted him to say some things, but thinking that is unnecessary. If I could imagine something, it would be him kissing up to me, telling me I'm the best, and he's just a snooty brat. How come even when I'm dead I can only think of him insulting me?_

"Get out of the way idiot!"

"Why are you still calling me an idiot!?" Seraphina bolted upright, her body slightly muddy but otherwise unscathed. Something must have deflected the bullets.

Seraphina looked up unwillingly at that "Something".

"Kanda." She growled. "What are you doing here?"

Kanda exhaled sharply in an almost forced sigh. He had his back turned on her but when he turned his head; a sharp glare was pointed in her direction. Quickly, he returned his focus ahead of him.

"This is why I hate being put on missions with newbie's." He growled. She wasn't sure if he was talking to himself, or to her, but it still agitated her greatly.

"Hey! I wiped out nearly half of those Akuma myself!" She countered.

He didn't seem to be listening. With a quick leap into the air, he activated his innocence, which seemed to be called Mugen, and quickly slashed all the Akuma until it was just an explosion of fireworks. He landed quietly back on the ground, swiftly turning into the ally way and disappearing behind the wall.

Disgruntled, Seraphina scrambled to her feet and rushed after him. She nearly did a pirouette in order to avoid running into Kanda as he abruptly stopped mid-step.

In the middle of the ally way, sprawled out across the ground was a set of clothes and a sprinkling of ash.

"Mary!" Seraphina cried out in horror as she recognized the clothes. She attempted to run to them to check, but was stopped by Kandas' arm, which quickly resumed its position resting gingerly on the hilt of his innocence.

Seraphina followed his line of sight until her own eyes rested on the threat. A great giant of a man blocked the rest of the path, backed by another 20 or so Akuma. The man smiled, an oversized lollipop resting half way out of his mouth.

Seraphina slowly reached for her innocence, which she realized with horror she had left back in the street. The mans smile grew wider as Kanda proceeded to draw Mugen out.

"Tell me," The giant rumbled. "Do you like sweets?"

Seraphina could hardly comprehend the question. It seemed such a useless thing to ask. Without hesitation, Kanda answered briefly; "I hate them." Ending with a hateful smirk.

Seraphina hesitated for a second before answering herself; "Yeah, me too." She replied in a half hearted mumble. It was unnerving being so close to something so large without any defence.

The man seemed about to fight when an irritated expression covered his face, anger rumbling in his throat. With one last look at the two exorcists, he turned and disappeared through all the Akuma.

Kanda attempted to follow but was suddenly found targeted by the Akuma, using his blade to easily deflect the bullets and take them down.

Seraphina used this time to run back to the street and grab her whip before returning to find all the Akuma slain and Kanda bolting down the corridor. Seraphina was positive he would not find the man, but she decided it was best not to lose Kanda, besides, he knew the way out.

* * *

"You killed Mary, and Steph, and all the other children in that town, didn't you?" Seraphina growled, setting up for an attack.

Skin laughed maniacally and bolts of lightning flew towards her. Seraphina dodged them and threw her whip forward, tangling it around the large man. An inferno shot up around him, blinding him from sight until it slowly died down.

Seraphina stumbled backwards in surprise as skin grinned darkly at her, completely unscathed.

He used his connection to her to send beams of lightning aimed at her head. Seraphina ducked and released her innocence before retreating a few paces. Somehow her hand had been shocked, the skin raw and tender where she held her whip. She quickly switched hands before lunging at him again.

Three doughnuts of lightning appeared above his head, setting off an explosion just as Seraphina released a fire blast. The lightning overcame her attack and sent her flying, smashing her into one of the many rocks surrounding them.

"I'm not taken down that easily." She grunted. _Blade thrower…_

Seraphina's whip changed instantly from a line of fire to a thin rope with many blades protruding from all angles. _"Attack!" _the rope slashed across skins torso, creating a thin but visible line.

Skin erupted with gales of laughter. "You think you can beat me with that?" A large bolt of lightning crashed into Seraphina, forcing her to the ground. It was like a bad sunburn.

"It's not over yet." She growled, struggling to her feet. _"Dig"_ The blades folded into each other until the end of her whip became a gruesome looking drill. "Try this on for size!" Seraphina screamed as she lunged once again at skin.

The Drill hit his palm with a cruel ripping sound, the force sending his hand back. Skins other hand balled up and flew forward, smashing full force into Seraphina's face. The motion propelled her backwards until she tasted sand.

She tried to force herself up, but the voltage running through her system seemed to shut off all connections to the rest of her body. Skins silhouette became visible against the sand and as the lightning charged the final blow, she heard the distinct creak of a door.

* * *

"Hurry up guys!" An earth quake rumbled through the hall way as the girls rushed forward, hurrying to the next door. The path was long and strange, but it didn't look like there was anything to oppose them. As they reached the doorway, they realized there was no door, and instead stumbled into a comfortably decorated chamber.

"Where are we?" Mizuki asked, looking around the pleasant room.

"My play room." A familiar voice sounded. "But it'll do as your burial grounds."

* * *

The rumbling of the ground beneath her shook Seraphina to consciousness. The floor was cracking up, falling away into oblivion. Seraphina noticed just in time that she was sliding away with a piece of the floor, and quickly jumped onto safer grounds.

"I could have sworn I was dead." She huffed, recalling her last moments with skin. She had felt a sharp sting and then an uncomfortable unconsciousness, and then this. She assumed he hadn't been smart enough to check if she was actually dead. As much as she was chagrined that she had lost to him, she was grateful for having survived the fight, so she could find him and demand a rematch.

That thought reminded her, she needed to find him before the room totally fell apart. She straightened herself up, wincing at her fresh wounds, which consisted of a number of bad burns and one thick gash near her shoulder, which she assumed was supposedly the final blow.

She staggered forward, thrown off balance by the constant tremors. The room was deteriorating by the second. She picked up her speed and sprinted through the sand filled chamber, dodging the rocks and trying her best not to fall off balance by the constant tremors.

When Seraphina got to the other side of the room, she was surprised to find Skin nowhere in sight. She did, however, spot yet another building, crumbling away, and an oddly shaped rock fixture close to it.

With a gasp of recognition, Seraphina launched herself at the odd rock, landing before him with surprised tears in her eyes.

"Kanda! What happened to you?" She cried, eyeing his bare chest and burned body. She gasped at the familiar burns. "You went up against Skin too?" She looked around worriedly. "Where is he, Kanda, we need to get out of here!" With those words the building behind him completely fell apart, reminding her of the growing tremors beneath them.

"Kanda." Seraphina whispered with realization. They didn't _have_ and escape. Even if Skin was still somewhere in the room, he'd be taken down as well. They were going to die there, together. _Together._ She thought, comforted by the idea.

"I'm sorry." Kanda whispered back. She looked at him and he was smiling at her. The tears fell from her eyes, uninvited and embarrassing as Kanda leaned in closer…


	12. Kiss Of Death

As the stone walls crumbled to the disfigured earthy ground, soft lips made impact on each other, allowing a brief moment of pleasure before the earth shattered beneath them and the two exorcists began sliding into the despair.

"So this is what they mean when they say the kiss of death." Seraphina whispered as she felt herself slowly slipping off the crackling floor.

"I've never heard that term before." Kanda grunted.

A chuckle escaped from Seraphina's tingling lips and before she could stop herself, she said the final words before everything disappeared.

"I love you."

--

--

"Damnit. I thought you'd meet us at the top of the tower." Vasilisa growled, straightening herself up to glare at the familiar girl.

"I was going to wait, but it got too boring sitting around, so I thought it'd be fun to go see how you guys are making out." She twirled her lollipop around with fascination, eyeing the exorcists playfully. "Ok," She said after a few seconds. "Lets play a game."

The girls looked at each other fearfully. They all knew the game probably wasn't going to be something harmless like twister or guess who.

"What's the game?" Vasilisa growled, annoyed with the girls appearance. It was most certainly going to delay them.

"Hide and seek!" Road sang. The girls blanched.

"What the hell, hide and seek?" Vasilisa gasped. She had imagined something horrible and gruelling, but this was merely a child's game.

"Oh! Sounds fun!" Both Eas and Alexandreina chimed.

"Here's how it works." Road began leaning in closer to the girls. "This game is played in the dark. I'll have my candles and you'll have your innocence. Whoever gets the most hits in wins."

"That sounds more like tag." Eas commented.

Road shrugged and gave a devilish smile. "So you gonna play, or not?"

Before the girls could agree, Vasilisa spoke up. "And what if we don't play? What will happen then?"

Roads smile widened once more into the hideous mask. "Then I'll destroy the door and you'll never get out!"

The girls gasped at the thought of their only exit demolished, realizing just how high the stakes were.

"How long will the game be?" Mizuki inquired.

"How about, if someone can no longer play, that team forfeits." Alexandreina suggested. "That way it makes things a little fairer."

"Don't treat this like a game Alexandreina!" Vasilisa shouted.

"But it is a game Vasilisa!" Alexandreina chuckled, patting her sisters head and confronting Road.

"Ready?" Road asked.

The girls congregated in a line, Mizuki found Sarra, still unconscious, flopped on the ground where Alexandreina had abandoned her. She sighed and pulled the girl beside one of the stuffed animals for safety. She quickly lined up with the others to begin the game.

The lights around the room quickly snuffed out and all was dark.

"Spread out." Mizuki whispered from her spot in the line.

Footsteps echoed throughout the black room, convincing Mizuki her orders had been fallowed.

A single light bloomed in the darkness and all innocence was upon it in a split second. Seconds later, Alexandreina's wrist blade was resting gingerly upon Vasilisa's jugular.

"Wh, what the heck?" Alexandreina retracted her blade, allowing a very startled Vasilisa to stumble backwards.

"I could have sworn you were road!" She exclaimed, looking around for the spiky headed girl.

"She's tricking us with her candles." Vasilisa growled. "She plays dirty."

"Ouch!" Eas's voice cried out in pain as a serrated edge whizzed past her arm, skimming it slightly.

"You ok?" Four voices called out, then a surprised silence fell as the girls registered that Road had been one of the four voices.

"Yeah." Eas mumbled, rubbing at her arm while squinting into the darkness.

Bubbles of light popped into the black, illuminating chosen areas. Mizuki lunged at some dark hair while Vasilisa let out a huge sound wave directed at some short figure.

Mizuki found herself struggling on the floor with Alexandreina, both with cuts on their faces from their opposition's weapons. Eas found herself flying into a bunch of stuffed animals.

Vasilisa sighed. "This is getting nowhere. She keeps on cheating."

As Vasilisa found her way to Eas to help her up, a shrill laughter sounded around the dark space.

"That doesn't sound good." Mizuki chuckled nervously, pulling herself up from the floor, allowing Alexandreina to right herself as well.

"This is getting boring!" Roads voice echoed once again.

"Well this is your game!" Alexandreina pointed out.

"And you're cheating, too." Vasilisa added.

"Very well then, how about I end it?"

Up above them, the girls were blinded by a thick blanket of light. When their eyes had finally adjusted, they stared up at a thousand sharp candles, angled down at the group.

"Shit!" Mizuki strung her bow and began firing at the candles, but they quickly regenerated, proving her efforts to be a waste.

"How the hell do we get out of this one?" Vasilisa inquired while her sister gave her a determined grin.

"Try dodging this!" Road cried, finally apparent with the bright light. She had been sitting atop one of the larger bears, the Noah evident on her.

The candles quickly approached the girls as they got into their protective stances. Razors rained down and just as the girls were about to be impaled, a thin white sheet spread out above them, deflecting all the candles.

"Innocence invocation."

The girls turned in awe as Sarra grabbed three more spheres from the holster on her leg, placing them on her sling shot and firing them into the air. On contact, all the candles that remained blew up in an array of fireworks.

"Sarra!!" The girls cheered, running over to her.

"Hey guys, what'd I miss?" Sarra asked, obviously confused by the situation.

After she was completely filled in, she turned to road.

"So all we have to do is get past you and to the top of the tower before the ark crumbles? That doesn't sound too bad." She turned back to her friends and shrugged. "I doubt I'll need any help with this one, if you want you can leave and get to the door and I'll catch up with Seraphina."

The girls instantly rejected her suggestion.

"Look, we've already let one person stay behind. We're not doing it again." Mizuki frowned.

"Besides, it'll be easier to defeat her if we work together." Vasilisa added.

"Are you guys finished with your little huddle? I'm bored." Road dragged on, swinging around a new lollipop. From where she sat, she looked like a young, innocent girl, but the squad wasn't fooled.

"Besides," the girl continued. "I want to go meet Allen before Tyki gets his mitts on him." Her expression softened at Allen's name and her pupils dilated.

"What are you going to do with Allen?!" Sarra demanded, fear surging through her body at the thought of Allen facing two of the terrible Noah.

Road lurched off her perch, propelling herself towards Sarra. Before Sarra could react, Roads thin arms were clung around her, soft and menacing.

"Well I'm going to jump on him just like this," She paused, then brought her mouth to Sarra's chilled ear and breathed, "And then I'm going to kiss him right. On. The. Lips."

Sarra shoved the girl roughly away, a disgruntled and angry look seared across her face.

"Why would you want to do that to him? Isn't he your enemy?" Sarra cried, trying desperately not to picture the scene Road had just projected.

"What does it matter?" Road sneered. "Love has no bounds, does it not?"

Sarra lost it. No way was she going to let some creepy little girl get Allen's (hopefully) first kiss! She lunged at Road, flipping out 5 balls at once, throwing them wildly at the girl as she danced around them. The balls set off mid fire expelling a nasty array of weapons and gasses, as well as web like substances that strung itself around the room.

When the gasses had diminished, and the furious onslaught of marbles was complete, the room looked only the opposite of what it had before. With only the earie light of the innocence to project the scene before them, it looked no different than a scene from a horror film.

Sarra breathed out furiously.

"Umm, a little over kill?" Vasilisa coughed.

"Sweet." Alexandreina giggled

"Holly Shi-" Eas started before being cuffed by Mizuki. "OW, I mean wow." She grumbled, giving the room another amazed gaze before turning back to glare at Mizuki.

"Where is she?" Sarra growled. "She's not getting away."

"Wow, she's pissed!" Alexandreina whispered to Vasilisa.

"You think?" Vasilisa replied, her tone on edge. Sarra was not only dangerous when she was pissed, she was also rash and rather stupid. "I just hope she's wise enough not to blow us all up."

"If you wont come out yourself," Sarra called back the girls attention as she drew back into a small satchel on her belt, retrieving a small black marble with a tiny white design printed on it. "I'll just bring you out with this!!" She strung her slingshot and aimed it to the roof.

"Wait, what does it do?!" Vasilisa yelled, taking a step towards her friend in case restraining was nessasary.

"What do you mean?" Sarra's face was as disturbing as that of the Noahs, Her smile wide and her eyes piercing. "I'm going to blow her out of her little mouse hole."

"What?" Vasilisa cried, lunging for the little deadly marble.

"Don't do that or else…" Sarra's hands fumbled with the marble and it slid from her grasp, the two making a slow motion attempt to reclaim the marble.

Unfortunately, they were not successful, and the small black ball of doom landed gingerly on the ground. The small clattering was deafening as all stared wide eyed.

After a few seconds of silence, the girls' muscles began to relax. Vasilisa exhaled heavily and bent down to pick the marble up. As her fingers curled hesitantly around it, a pop sounded, fallowed by a bright light.

Before all went deaf, Sarra exclaimed proudly; "Oh yeah, it takes a few seconds to activate!"

------------

"Wow! What a blast!" Sarra lay slightly charred, sprawled across the floor, the room stripped of nearly all its contents.

Road appeared left of her, completely untouched of the soot that spread over much of the room.

"What was the purpose of that?" She inquired, bending down to the girl.

Sarra smiled mischievously. "Just getting rid of some unwanted company.

Road looked around and noted no one else was present in the room. "Where?"

"my marbles can do many things." Sarra answered Road's unasked question. "I thin that one may have blasted them to different parts of the building. I wonder if they were lucky enough to be blasted to the door out of here." Sarra sighed with pleasure.

"Why did you send your comrades away? Surely you're not underestimating me?" Road frowned at this theory. She didn't like being underestimated.

"Of course not, but they were going to be in our way." Sarra smiled joyfully at her, giving Road the shivers.

"You're not what I thought you'd be like." Road giggled, obviously annoyed.

"And you're exactly what I thought you'd be like." Sarra mocked her, giving her the same annoyed stare.

"You're going to pay for ruining my fun." Road sighed, backing up from the girl and preparing for a fight.

" Oh, I'm going to pay? I think you're the one that needs to pay." Sarra contradicted. With a darker tone she added. "I wont ever let you touch Allen."

"Oh really? Are you sure about that?" Road became the Noah she was accustomed to being and called on her gift.

Sarra stepped back as a large black clump raced around the room, engulfing it completely. Road broke through the floor, cackling.

"This will be our play area now, exorcist, lets see who wins this game!"

At the end of her exclamation the space warped into a brightly lit dining room.

"Huh?"

_Six settings, no, seven, but only six people are present. One Man, at the top right side of the table, he's wearing a coat similar to the ones the finders wear. Beside him must be his wife. Her brown hair is so pretty, and her expression is so happy! Beside her is another man, though he is young, 20's tops. On the other side, beside where I seem to be sitting are two girls, very close in age. They're giggling about something. The last setting is at the end of the table, but the chair is empty. Why is this place so familiar? _

Tears dripped from Sarra's eyes, falling onto the neat table cloth and disappearing as if they had never been there.

She new this place. She new the candles that rested on the plainly clothed table, she new the old couch that sat contently beside the bay window that out looked onto their proud farm. She remembered the sound of the grazing cows, the swaying trees in the forest nearby.

This was her house. Her home. But why was she here?

"Momma?" Sarra whispered, watching the beautiful woman place a finely sliced piece of stake in her mouth. They only ate this well when Dad came home. She looked over at her father, his gruff exterior rivalling his warm heart.

Sarra pushed back the chair to stare at her two sisters, trying hard to keep her vision from blurring.

"Clara? Chantell? Can you hear me?" Sarra shook her closest sisters' arm, but she didn't react.

As quickly as it came, the scene was gone again, flashing by like a piece of film. It was replaced by another memory, this one not as happy.

"I'm going to join the military." Robby announced. The suns rays diminished from the sky as did the light from their mothers' eyes.

The father worked incessantly as a finder, returning home only rarely. They needed Robby to help with the farm. He had always rejected his fathers tales of work and fighting Akuma, exclaiming that they were just wild stories to cover up his fathers lame job. It seemed joining the military was his way of rebelling, or possibly trying to redeem the family in the neighbourhoods' eyes.

And another scene. The time Sarra found her innocence as she was playing in the mud. She must have been trying to construct something to get Robby back at with, and that's how she created her slingshot, with her own two hands.

It wasn't long after that time that the next scene was in, and Sarra's stomach dropped with the knowledge of what this scene held.

Sarra was by far not an only child. She had an older brother, and three younger sisters. The youngest of her sisters died not long after she was born due to complications. The empty seating place was for her. The other two died on that day, as did their mothers sanity.

---

"They seem to be having fun." Sarra remembered thinking as she strattled a tree looking down on her sisters. It was a brisk fall morning but her sisters ignored the cold and chased each other around, screaming and cheering.

Sarra reminded herself she was too old for this nonsense and insisted that she stay in the tree until her mother told her to come inside.

It was the terrible sound coming from the neighbours' property that alerted the girls. Sarra disregarded the sound, assuming it was the mourning wife breaking something. She felt bad for the woman, since she had just lost her husband, but she could cry so loud, especially at night.

Clara and Chantell did not ignore it, however, and decided to peep. As they left Sarra's sight, she tried to fallow them, but felt as if she was paralyzed.

"Don't go back there!" She tried to scream, but her mouth wouldn't move. Instead, she kept a bored look on her face and leaned forward on the branch, eyes tracing an interesting leaf.

The shots rang out across the country. Sarra believed they could be loud enough to reach even Paris itself.

The sickening feeling returned to her stomach as her body reluctantly moved from its position to a more alert one, staring at the place that shots had been fired from.

"Run Damnit! You can still save her! You can still save Chantell!" Sarra screamed to herself, but the girl stayed in the tree, waiting.

Chantell became visible seconds later, the blood of her sister smeared across the right side of her body. Tears were streaming down her face and she looked too shocked to even scream. Their mother came from behind her, scooping her up and running into the open field.

It was like a horror movie you can't turn off. The Akuma created by the grieving wife slid around the corner, its gruesome face twisted with agony. The barrels were still steaming from the fired bullets.

Sarra instinctively held her breath as it passed by the small clump of tree's she remained in, continuing its search towards where her mother and sister were hiding.

"Please! You have to move! You can save them! Use your innocence Damnit!" Sarra sobbed, pleading to her paralyzed self.

Another round of shots rang before the picture went black again.

The nerves began to work again and Sarra could finally find her voice. She was once again in the checkered wasteland that Road had constructed. She couldn't keep her tears from running, and her heart beat painfully in her chest.

"That's cheap." She mumbled through sobs. "Those were my worst moments."

"Wow." The fact that it was a person other than Roads voice that spoke to her startled Sarra. She turned around to face none other then Allen, his face grim.

"I didn't know you were so cruel." He continued his expression a deep anger.

"You don't understand! I was just a child!" Sarra cried, trying to redeem herself. She hated when Allen looked like that, and having that face pointed at her made her want to disappear.

"That doesn't matter. You could have taken action but you didn't. You were a filthy coward." Her brother, clad in his military uniform stepped out from the blackness.

"Brother! You have no right! You rejected me after the incident! You didn't want anything to do with us!" Sarra clenched her fists and scowled at her brother, feeling the sting of memories from his heartless rejection of her need for help.

"Why should I help you? You were the cause for all of this! How is it you were the only one that came from that day unscathed? Do you really expect me to believe some monster came and killed our family? No. You are the monster. I went to the military to rid the world of people like you."

"Brother." Sarra cried, turning back to Allen, "Please, I'm not a monster,"

"One who does not invoke necessary action in a time of need is nothing but a monster." Allen recited, his lips turned down menacingly.

"Sister." Sarra's heart gave a lurch as the hands of her deceased sisters clung to her.

"Why'd you do it?" Clara whispered, her face searching.

"Why didn't you help us?" Chantell demanded, their fingers beginning to claw at their sister.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Sarra repeated, stepping away from the girls clawing grasp.

"Running away again." Allen's chest was against her back as Sarra restrained herself from looking at his angry eyes.

Sarra dropped to her knees, covering her eyes from the pain of seeing their faces.

"Sister, we'll forgive you," Calara started.

"If you come with us." Chantell finished. Their tiny hands rested on their sisters shoulders, beckoning her to come with them.

"I'm sorry, I can't!" Sarra cried, remembering that it was still Road's workings. It just felt so real!

"Come sister, Come!" The hands were now grabbing, forcing her forward, giving her no chance to resist.

"Come with us and you won' ever have to feel the guilt of leaving us to die again!"

Robby was already ahead of them, walking into the distance as the two girls dragged her further into the darkness.

Sarra turned back to see Road waving to her, her arm wrapped securely around Allen's waist, his face still revealing hatred and anger for her.

"I'm so sorry, Allen." She whispered once more as her sisters pulled her into the engulfing black.

------------

"That $^$*&*(*^TI&%*%^&F!!!!!!!!!!!!" Eas slurred profusely as she peeled herself off the floor, leaving a clean outline of her figure framed against the soot.

"Where on earth did you pick up those words?" Mizuki huffed, dragging herself to her feet.

"It's not my fault! Try living with miners your entire life!" Eas kicked up some of the soot and scowled as it caught in her airways, giving her a sneeze attack.

------------

"NO!" Vasilisa cried. The sound reverberated through the silent room.

"Huh?" Alexandreina rubbed her head, sitting up from her sprawled position on the ground. "This isn't the same place we were in before." She stated matter-of-factly.

Vasilisa looked up at the large open room. Her sister was right; they weren't in the same room.

Instantly, Vasilisa went on guard as her surroundings became clearer. Books were tossed everywhere, lying at the base of an enormous book shelf that circled the room.

"Crowley?" Alexandreina's wavering tone alerted Vasilisa and she turned to face her sister staring wide eyed in the opposite direction.

"What did you say Dreina?" Vasilisa whispered, inching towards her sister, eyes still alert and scanning the room. They stopped on a large heap on the ground. She hesitated on the shape then carried her eyes up to the giant coffin towering above it.

Alexandreina reacted first, rushing towards the mound and turning it over. Sure enough, Crowley lay unconscious, battered and beaten.

"Who did this to him?" Alexandreina asked, a dangerous tone underlying her words.

_Whoever it was I hope to god has left_ Vasilisa prayed before kneeling beside her sister.

"Don't worry, he doesn't seem to be dead." Vasilisa reassured her, registering the slight breaths the vampire lookalike took in.

A great tremor shook the room and the two clung to each other for balance. Pieces of the ceiling crumbled around them as they stared at each other in alarm.

"This place isn't going to hold." Vasilisa cried out, covering her head as small pieces of the ceiling rained down on her.

"But Crowley!" Alexandreina looked desperately from the giant to her sister.

"We'll take him with us!" Vasilisa grabbed one of his massive arms and nodded to her sister. Alexandreina stood and took the other arm, heaving with all her might.

"He's not moving!" She cried.

Vasilisa shook her head and pulled again. "Alexandreina, I'm sorry, but we need to go." She dropped Crowley's arm and took her sisters hand.

"I'm not leaving without him." Alexandreina's face was determined. One of the things Vasilisa loved about her sister was her persistence, but today she loathed it.

"We're going to die if we don't go, Dreina. Do you understand that? We have a duty to help our friends and get out of here. I know he's a friend too, but there is no way we can move him. We need to leave him and hope somehow he survives."

"I'm sorry, sister." Alexandreina smiled. It seemed out of place due to the circumstances, and if it wasn't the fact that she was her sister, Vasilisa would have called it suspicious.

"I know, now lets go." Vasilisa motioned to move but Alexandreina held still. Instead of moving towards the gold doors set on a cylindrical room in the middle of the place, Alexandreina closed in on her sister, giving her a tight hug. Vasilisa accepted it hesitantly, aware that this was not the time for hugs.

"Please tell the others to give it there best." Alexandreina whispered before Vasilisa's senses went deaf.

As her sisters body went limp in her arms, Alexandreina smiled at her peaceful expression and dragged her to the open doors where she promptly threw her in and shut the doors.

"Now." She traced back her footsteps to the sleeping man. "We can have some peace and quiet.

"Eliade…?" Crowley felt the soft stroke of a woman's touch, heard the southing song meant as a lullaby. As his senses slowly returned to him, he was able to make out a shape hovering above him. The soft features of his deceased love flashed above him before melting into a new face, the one of the girl who had hugged him that one time, her face not one of terror, but of happiness and youthful vibrancy. The girl did not look happy or vibrant now though, as he noted her soft lips curving into a strained half smile, her eyes watery and unfocussed. It looked like she had just lost an old friend. He though briefly that maybe he was the friend, maybe he was the one dying –his body hurt like he was- But he was not an old friend. They had only met a few times. Then why was this girl cradling him?

"Oh! Your waking up?" Alexandreina snapped into focus as Crowley's eyelids slowly lifted.

"Why are you here?" Crowley asked through a whispered breath.

Alexandreina's face twisted painfully before returning to the forced smile. "Because you are, silly!"

"Huh?" The man grunted in confusion.

"You know, I'm going to miss some good fights because of you!" She continued, giving a gurgled giggle.

"What do you mean?"

At that moment one of the larger chunks of ceiling tile crashed beside them. He realized they were still in the room he had fought in, and it was dissolving away rapidly.

Crowley shot up. "Why are you here? We need to get out of here!"

Alexandreina sighed. "I'm sorry, but it's not possible. After I got Vasilisa out of here part of the ceiling collapsed over it. We don't have an escape."

Crowley looked wildly to her. "Then why didn't you follow your sister?"

"Because You were to heavy to lift." Alexandreina answered bluntly.

"Then you should have left me!" Crowley retorted heatedly. She should not be there, She should have followed her sister.

"I couldn't." Alexandreina frowned, feeling like she was talking to a two year old.

"why not?!" The almost vampire demanded.

"Because I'd rather die than leave another comrade!" Alexandreina spit back.

Through the years it was common to have friends die, especially in their field of expertise, but Alexandreina had never really gotten close to anyone besides her sister, until she met her little group of friends, the joked "Alternate squad" .Them and Allens' group became so precious to the sisters, and Alexandreina couldn't help but want to protect each and every one of them.

"Watch out." Crowley was over her in an instant, pinning her to the floor. Above them, the ceiling crumbled further, a huge chunk collapsing over them.

"Crowley, are you ok?" Alexandreina cried as the man grunted with exertion. The ceiling was weighing him down and he was so close she could feel his breath on her face.

"Don't move." He grunted. "I will protect you."

Blush shot up through Alexandreina, colouring her face in a rich red. _This is like a really twisted romance novel_ She thought to herself before smirking ironically. It wasn't every day that the man of her dreams was risking his life to protect her. She might as well use it to her advantage, especially if she was about to die.

"If I'm not going to be able to fight to my death, I might as well be doing the second best thing."

Crowley looked at her in alarm as Alexandreina wrapped her arms around his struggling shoulders to close the distance between the two.

"M, miss, what are you d, doing?" He stuttered as his face lit up a brilliant red.

"I'm making myself comfortable." She smiled devilishly before shoving her lips over his.

An alarmed flailing shook Crowley's balance and the concrete pinning him crushed him further to the ground. With his last breath he attempted to warn the girl before she was pushing her lips against his once more.

_Eliade, I'm so sorry. I don't know why, but I can't help it. She's so warm and I can't seem to stop._

_Crowley,_ Eliades' voice carried to his awareness as the floor beneath them vanished. _Crowley, do not worry, I want you to be happy, and I want you to be with someone you can spend your life with, go to heaven with. Protect her, so you won't ever be lonely._

_Thank you, Eliade…_ A single tear streamed down Crowley's cheek as the two embracing people vanished from existence.

-----------


	13. Death Comes Knocking

I'm so sorry this took SOOO long, as per usual. It takes bloody forever to do this, and with grad around the corner, well, i've been busy to say the least.

PLEASE FORGIVE ME!!!

So originally this was going to be my last chapter, but then I got lazy and cut it in half, so you get one more, and a bonus!!!!! Just for being some super special awesome viewers!!!

Ok so I do not own D. Gray Man And if I did, I would make Tyki and Allen an official yaoi pairing ;P Ok, Allen and Road can get some action too, but I still like the other one. And Lavi would have bunny ears PERMENANTLY :D

Enjoy!!~

* * *

"Found an exit." Mizuki motioned to a door centred in the middle of the enormous wall to their left. Eas nodded distractedly, her focus trained on the shadows.

They had landed in the huge empty box like room after being blown away by Sarra's technique. The only distortion to the white room was the splattering of soot on the floor where they were blown too.

"Eas" Mizuki asked nervously, eyeing the shadows as well but noticing nothing.

"You go." Eas whispered, unmoving.

"What? Are you serious? What are you talking about? We're already split up enough, if the two of us part; we're going to be totally alone!" Mizuki screamed at her friend. Eas never batted an eye.

After a few seconds of silence, Eas' muscles seemed to relax and she finally moved to face Mizuki, an annoyed expression on her face. "Look, I gotta take a leek, so would ya mind scooting out of here so I can have a little privacy?"

Mizuki blanched. "What did you say?"

"Yeah, well, it's not some manga were everyone has super camel powers. I have a small bladder and I have to go real bad. If you don't mind, I would like to prevent myself from peeing my pants when we have to fight." Eas gave Mizuki an annoyed grunt and swooshed her hands back and forth shooing her away.

After Mizuki regained her balance, she thought a second then shrugged. Eas was right. It had been all day since they had had access to a working washroom, it wasn't unlikely that the majority of the group didn't have to pee. Eas was also known for having a small bladder, going off to do her business while they were resting after the caves.

"Yeah, ok, just try not to be long." Mizuki scratched her head awkwardly then shut the door behind her.

Eas let out a huge sigh as soon as the door was shut. She didn't have much time until Mizuki would get suspicious. She could loose all her pride and say she was going number two… Regardless, Eas decided she had more important things to do then worry about Mizuki.

"I know you're there." She called out, eyeing the shadows once more.

"Well then, you're a very sharp girl." A tall man in a black suit and tie stepped out from the shadows. Eas recognized him as the man from the stream.

The shocked expression didn't last nearly as long as the man had wanted it too.

"I have some questions for you." Eas got straight to business.

"Is that why you sent the other girl away?" The man asked, motioning to the door.

"I don't want any interruptions while I'm interrogating you." Eas shrugged.

The man chuckled darkly. "Do you think this is a game little girl? Are you going to play detective with me?"

Chills ran up Eas' spine, creating a buzzing in her head. "No. I'm serious. I need to know something."

The man smiled malevolently and bowed his head. "Then I am all ears."

"Lets start with the obvious then." Eas began. "You're not some villager or remnant of Japans human population, are you?" She made sure to emphasise the human in her last statement.

The smile on the mans face grew. "You are correct. I am not of Japan's human population." He emphasised the word human as well, snickering at her cautiousness in word choice.

"Then you must be either Noah or Akuma." Eas stated firmly.

"You are also correct."

"Tell me your name." Eas demanded, deliberately stepping forward for dramatic effect.

"How about a trade, you tell me your name, and I will tell you mine." The man quickly retorted, playing the cards to his advantage.

"Very well, I am Eas Amery, exorcist of all Akuma!" She stated proudly, adding the additional information of being an exorcist to intimidate him.

To her eyes, it seemed her additional statement had worked in scaring him. The mans

Eyes went round, his smoking cigarette falling to the ground where it continued to sizzle undisturbed.

Impatience began to crawl into the girl as the man stood there, motionless. She hadn't meant to scare him that much. Though she admittedly felt proud at how he trembled and the thought of him fearing her, she also couldn't help but think this was not how it should be. Surely a Noah would not fear an exorcist, and if he were an Akuma like she had first assumed, he would feel nothing since he would be merely a bred killing machine.

Composure swept over the man, finally bending down to retrieve his cigarette, hiding his face from Eas. "I gave you my promise." The man spoke up from his crouched position. He raised his head and with it the rest of his body so he once again gained the advantage of height. "But before my name is shed, I wish to give you a test."

Eas hissed. He was playing her. _So much for a promise_. "What sort of test?" She asked, not being able to stifle the curiosity welled inside her.

Land one hit on me, and I will tell you _everything_ you want to know, not only about me, but also about the Earl and the rest of the Noahs.

_So he is one of them._ Eas noted, studying the man. The sleeked back hair made his face look sharp and alluring. It had a familiar shape to it, but Eas hadn't the time to look into that.

"Very well." She sighed, searching for her teddy, she was sure she had brought him with her…

"Why don't you try hitting me without your innocence for now?" The man smiled, opening his arms in a welcoming gesture.

Eas scoffed. "Like hell I'd follow that bait. I'd be creamed by you in two seconds flat!"

The man nodded at this, contemplating, then moving his hands behind his back. "Then how about if I do not attack you?"

Eas considered this. She had little training in any of the arts, but she was built enough from assisting with the mining that she could pack a decent punch, and until she could figure out where Teddy had gotten too, she would have no other choice. She chose a stance similar to the ones seen in a boxing match, and let out a smooth breath before lunging after the man.

It was hard to say the least. Every move she made the man easily dodged, using his hands only to deflect the blows he was unable to avoid. After a discouraging two minutes of playing cat and mouse, Eas had given up wailing her fists at the man and proceeded to lunge at him like a jungle cat, barrel rolling to her feet when she missed.

Finally, she had him cornered between the creases in the two walls. With one last lurch she flung her self on him, hoping to head butt his gut. To her surprise, the soft squish of human flesh eluded her as her head collided into the wall, forcing her whole body to crumple into it.

"Oh, sorry about that." The man chuckled devilishly. "It seems I may have cheated."

"What do you mean, cheated?" Eas scowled, rubbing at the egg on her head.

"How about we even this fight up a little then?"

Eas still did not fallow.

"Invoke your innocence, you do know how too, don't you?"

"Of course I do!" Eas cried

_Teddy where the hell are you!!_ Eas exhaled to calm herself and stood erect. _Please Teddy, I need you._ "Innocence, ACTIVATE!" She shot her hand into the air and closed her eyes. She wished with all her might that she wouldn't have to continue to stand there looking like an idiot in front of her enemy without any weapon of her own.

Just as she was about to give up and beg for her life, light tickled at her heavy hand. She lifted her eyes to see teddy, wrapped around her fist. The bear winked semi creepily and shifted into a glove with mettle platting and small spikes on the knuckles. "Teddy!" Eas gurgled with delight, fighting back tears of relief. "I'm going to kick your ass after this you piece of trash!" She turned 360 and glared daggers at the glove before resuming her fighting stance.

"Are you ready?" The man grinned.

"I am now." Eas matched his grin and hoped to god she would make it to the end of the battle.

She started with a combo, dodging to the left and then hitting at him from behind. He was quick and jumped forward so she had to use her hands to flip over before she fell. She used this momentum to jump at him, grabbing his jacket collar. The black enveloped her as she crashed to the ground. The jacket lay crumpled beneath her while the man chuckled to the side of her, his white dress shirt now totally visible.

"That was cheap." She growled.

"Well I would say you were trying to strip me young lady." The man laughed.

"That's gross, creep." Eas suppressed the shudders rattling through her from that comment.

"Indeed, where are my manners." The man bowed his head, then held out his hand. As he did so, giant black butterflies swarmed from him, overpowering the girl. Eas swatted at them, shrieking as they brushed against her.

"sucker punch!" She cried. 15 sucker shaped bullets shot from her fist, demolishing most of the butterflies. She then caught and crushed the rest in her palm.

Clapping alerted her and she turned to see the man walking towards her. "That's impressive." He jeered. "How about we finish this?"

Eas was caught off guard as the man shot his unprotected hand at her. She didn't realize until it was between her ribs that it was his weapon. She waited for the pain and the blood, but none came. Once again, laughter exuded the man. "Look at your face. You look like the world just ended." He slowly brought his arm up so that his hand was somewhere near her lungs. "Cool, isn't it?"

Eas turned sick. It felt just wrong to have his hand inside of her. _Cool my ass._ She scowled and grabbed his arm with her gloved hand. "Stop that!" She roared, pushing him back. The jacket that had been forgotten beneath hersuddenly was all to present as the material shifted beneath her moving body, setting her off balance. As she pushed the man, her body followed. She collided with the man and they both fell to the ground.

"Ouch." The man muttered, feeling the impact and the extra weight on his chest. His hat had taken flight during the fall and his hair had fell limp over his eyes. He itched to brush it away. "Little lady, would you mind getting off of me?" The man looked up to see incredulous eyes. "What?"

"Tyki?"

Eas found herself looking into the eyes of her oldest and most trusted friend. Surely it was a mistake. He was too dark to be Tyki, and he had the marking of the Noah. With his hair down, however, the unplaced face was found.

"Damn." He chuckled gruffly. "you-." He was caught off by the red stain that was crawling up his shirt. Surely he had not been injured in the fall. He looked down and found his arm sitting half way down Eas' stomach, his hand twitching on the other side. He had resumed his solid form during the fall. "Shit, Eas!" He quickly released his hand from her stomach. She fell limp onto him, blood flowing from her body to his like a fountain. "Shit, Eas." He repeated, turning her over onto the floor.

"Tyki?" She cried softly.

"Yeah, Eas, give me a minute." Tyki took out his tease but found Eas' eyes were already glazed over.

"I'm sorry, Eas." Tyki placed his palm over her eyes so that they closed to resume a peaceful look. "It would never have worked out anyways, no exorcist can live. Not while the Noah are alive."

He folded her arms over her chest, noticing a bulge in her pocket. Carefully, he removed the bulge and found his white face smiling back at him. Before he could study it further, it crumbled apart in his hand. "Wonder if it's trying to tell me something." He hitched, sprinkling the crumbs on the ground before collecting his hat. While he dusted it off, a large rumbling echoed around the room. "Time to go."

* * *

"Eas?" Mizuki was hesitating behind the door. "She's probably going number two." She reminded herself. "still, it has been a while..." She slowly turned the knob, creaking open the door slowly. "Eas? Hey, you've been a while, are you alrigh..."

"EAS!"

* * *

"What's wrong, sister?"

Sarra shook her head. "I'm so sorry you guys."

"What do you mean?" Clara demanded.

"Sarra bent down and hugged each of her sisters. I love you guys, but my past must stay past. I have a future to worry about now."

"No! Don't abandon us, sister!!!" The girls shrieked, clawing at Sarra.

"I'm sorry, I have to go to the one I love now, the one that I still can help." Tears streaked her face as she ran from the darkness, away from her family, towards... "Allen!"

She lunged into the soft feel of Allen, burying her face in his silky hair. "Allen I love you, Allen! I'm here to help you, always and forever!"

"What are you doing!?" Road demanded, attempting to wrench Sarra off of Allen.

"No matter what." Sarra then crushed her lips on his and refusing both his and Roads demands to let go, she kissed him.

"Whoa." Sarra sat up, her world spinning.

"Damn you." Road growled, standing merely feet from her. They were back in the toy room.

"What happened? Does this mean I beat your hallucination?" Sarra felt proud at this thought.

"I'm going to make you pay." Road replied cryptically. She grabbed a hold of Sarra and half dragged her to a door she had created. She shoved Sarra in, and then followed.

The room was brightly lit, with a huge table as its center piece, and marble columns circling the room. A man in a top hat was slipping a black coat over a blood stained shirt.

"What happened, Tyki?" Road gasped at the sight of the blood.

"Sorry, I had a little too much fun with one of her friends." He glanced at Sarra, who was still digesting the situation.

"Are you ok?" Road asked, noticing his worn face.

"Yes, I just had to come to a realization about something." He smiled briefly.

"Ok then, well if you don't mind, I'm going to provide a spectator for our little feast." Road turned to Sarra, who instantly raised her hands defensively. Road smiled, raising her hands as if to attack. A small cube engulfed Sarra, surprising her.

"And so you don't think of anything stupid," Candles punctured both Sarras' wrists and ankles, forcing her to the ground. "Now sit there quietly while I go great the REAL Allen with a REAL kiss." Road sneered before walking off.

"Don't!" Sarra gasped through her pain. She quickly worked at removing the candles which burned at her relentlessly and then hurled her useless hands at the cube, merely soaking its walls with blood.

"Oh, I should mention, they won't be able to see or hear you, so don't exert yourself." Road skipped to the other side of the room where a knob was starting to turn on the handle of a door that she was going to.

"!!!!!" As like before, Roads lips crushed against a surprised Allen's. The real Allen this time, and to Sarras' sickening, he did nothing against it besides yell out her name in surprise.

"Allen." Feelings of longing and relief swelled with the hatred she harboured. If only she could get out of the damned box.

She was lucky though. Road had allowed her the privilege, if she could call it that, of hearing the conversations the familiar group was having with her number one enemy and the man in the top hat which had been conveniently left on the ground beside the table where he ate. The contense of the conversation was increadibly confusing. She heard something about Allen stripping the man, which placed a thread of doubt in her presumption of Allens' sexuality preference. Then Allen was on top of the table, a long finger skewering lenalees' chair. Without a second breathe he was running across the table at the man, engaging him in an intense fight. She noticed Lavi trying to join but was distracted by Road. As Allen's fight progressed, Lavi became enveloped in Roads illusion. The she-Noah also trapped Lenalee and another man she didn't know in a cube not unlike hers. Sarra hollered at the two hoping that since they were in a cube, they would hear her, but she had no such luck. Instead she watched helplessly as Allen challenged the Noah man.

* * *

"Alexandreina!!!" Vasilisa screamed until her voice went hoarse. She pounded and pushed against the doors but they would not budge. "Damn it, you bitch! How could you give up on me like that?" She slid to the ground, her fists still slowly pounding on the door, loosing force with every punch. "You promised." She hitched. " Fuck you, you promised we'd die together! You barely know him, how can you abandon me like that?!"

"Wow, you must really hate her."

Vasilisa's body whipped around and resumed a guarded position, looking for the face to match with the voice she heard.

"Down here, bitch."

Vasilisa's eyes traced down to the tiled floor where two bodies lay. One of them had their head facing her. It was the Noah with the twin. This one was the less insane one, to her standards; the one with the short blackish hair. The strands fell over his eyes as he chuckled with exertion.

"So your idiot sister abandoned you? Well that sucks. Maybe she was just fed up with your…"

Vasilisa's heavy boot swung into Debitto's face, sending him back a couple feet to sprawl against his brother.

"What the fuck did you do that for?!" He demanded, still unmoving.

"Don't talk shit about my sister." Vasilisa spat.

"Whatever."

"You want me to kick you again?!"

"Why are you so fucking violent?" Debitto attempted to raise his dead arms to protect him from anymore assaults.

"My sisters dying just outside my reach and you are the cause of it, you expect me to be calm?!" Vasilisa wound up for another kick to his face, but hesitated when she caught Debitto's expression.

"Yeah, I understand." His eyes rolled to the side, eyeing the body propped beside him.

"So I guess we are in the same boat." Vasilisa shrank beside him, plopping onto the floor with an exasperated sigh.

"You should get out of here." Debitto's eyes evaded Vasilisa's shocked ones. "It's not too late, you can still help the rest of your friends."

The faces of the Alternate squad flashed through her mind as he spoke. "Sorry." She wiped at her face quickly before standing up once again. In her mind, she spoke her words of invocation, aiming her face to the ceiling.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Debitto demanded, watching as light formed around Vasilisa's mouth.

Her eyes darted to his form, passing him a smile before shooting out a large shock wave that destroyed the ceiling, bringing the debris down on them.

"What the FUCK?!" Debitto's cries were drowned out as the ceiling crushed the remaining survivors of the room.

_At least _**I**_ will hold our promise, sister. I suppose suicide isn't exactly the best thing but at least I am taking out enemies with me. I'll see you in heaven soon Driena, if not only to kick your butt…_

Tears and marble fell into the untouchable void, disintegrating in the overwhelming darkness.

* * *

"Allen!!!"

Through the past couple of minutes, Sarra had witnessed Allen almost meet his end, earn a new form of innocence; a broad sword, and defeat the Noah inside the man. Road, however did not take kindly to him, positioning candles around him and lenalees' cube, puncturing the man she didn't know.

Worse then that, Lavi's heart had been taken over, or whatever Road had said. Now he was hacking at a confused Allen. After dodging a few of his initial blows, Lavi snagged Allen and pinned him to the floor, continuously delivering him blows. Allen reached up for him, trying to coax him back to consciousness but that only earned him a blow against the wall. They continued battling, Lavi invoking his fire stamp which chased after Allen relentlessly.

Finally, after Allen threw his sword at Road in a ditch effort to stop her, which unfortunately didn't affect her, Lavi brought his fire stamp upon him. The room lit up with flames, liking at the air around her, making the room hot and uncomfortable.

Lenalee's cries rang in Sarra's ears as she sobbed unnoticed.

Hacking and coughing urged her to look up as the columns of fire turned to ash and as it disintegrated, two bodies appeared, heaving and coughing their lungs out.

At the same time, her little prison unfolded, releasing her. She could hear the clear sounds of Lenalee scolding the two still living boys.

"Thank god." Sarra whispered through blurred vision. Her arms and legs refused to move, the deep gashes in her flesh earning her a second pulse.

The group seemed to be getting ready to leave. Sarra scolded herself to speak out, to move, give them a sign of her existence, but all she could manage was a mouthing of Allens' name. As the three crowded over Lavi's extended hammer, Allen made a sweep of the room, landing on the man he had taken the Noah out of. His form was unmoving and had the funny little pumpkin headed umbrella fussing around him. He started to return his focus to the group and extend up when his sights caught on Sarra's bloody form. His eyes lit up in shock momentarily before he disappeared into the space above.

Sarra let out a small whimper as she fought for consciousness. "I love you, Allen. Please get out safely." As she waited for the floor beneath her to swallow her up, a dark form loomed in the corner of her dull eyes. Sounds of struggle softened in her ears until it became mute noise. Death came from the sky, which was an unexpected but not totally un welcomed change.

_Looks like I'll be joining you guys after all. _Sarra smiled at the shapes of her dearly departed sisters. Taking each hand, she strode off into the light.

* * *

"Damn you, Eas." Mizuki's back ached as she dragged the body of her comrade up the soon to be bloodstained stairs. She didn't feel it right to just leave her there, but she was seriously eating up the little time they possessed. Another tremor urged Mizuki to quicken her pace. To her disbelief, the stairs at the bottom of the twisting staircase began to crumble and disappear. They accelerated, chasing after the slow moving girl until they were only three of four steps away from being engulfed.

Mizuki launched Eas onto her shoulders, Blood soaking every part of her, and bucked it up the steps. She was so close to the next door when the next step disappeared beneath her and she began her plunge into nothingness.

"EAS!!! I'm never going to forgive you!!!" Mizuki screamed as she fought against gravity. "Damnit, now I won't be able to punch Lavi in the face for going off and getting in so much trouble!" She finally gave up her struggles and accepted the darkness.

"At least it's peaceful…"


	14. Patch It Up

OMG, A NEW CHAPTER BEFORE THREE MONTHS? HOW INCREADIBLE AM I?!?!

SO SAD. This will be my last (maybe?) chapter of the Alternate squad!!! It's so unbearable!!!

Read it rate it comment love it.

BTW I do not own D. Gray-Man. If I did, Lavi and lenalee would be making out in a closet and Yu would have to wear something frilly every chapter...

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* * *

_

Then the boy went to sleep…and one or two embers…alive in the ashes…flared up in the shape of…your beloved face. Thousands of dreams…spread over the land. Stars like silver eyes twinkling in the night…you're shining ones…fell to earth. Even though the eons…turn many prayers to dust…

"I will keep praying."

"Allen?"

Sarra waded in the sweet pool of sound, the beautiful notes easing her aching body until it felt warm and light. "What magic is this?" She asked aloud, testing her voice. "I am sure I was dead."

_Goodbye sister, please take your time until we meet again…_

A tear streaked down Sarra's face, unnoticed. "Goodbye…"

"Sarra?" A voice broke her bubble of sadness. A dark shadow replaced her light and Sarra fallowed the shadow until it met a pair of boots familiar too…

"Lavi?" Sarra raised her incredulous expression to meet Lavi's face, shock outlining both exorcists' features.

"How did you get here?" He asked, extending his hand down to the girl, who politely accepted.

"Lulu bell led us here, kind of." Sarra laughed sheepishly. She noticed as he lifted her up there were subtle stings in the places she had been punctured by Roads candles, but it wasn't even close to unbearable.

"So do you know why we are alive?" Lavi asked, shifting his eyes so that they focused on the room, its condition almost identical to when they had first entered it.

"I have no idea; I was going to ask you." Sarra replied. "Um, who's that?" She pointed to a man who was sitting up, his eyes wide and whizzing around the room like little round humming birds.

"Oh, I guess you haven't really met him yet." Lavi chuckled. "That's Chaoji, he's been helping us and I think is a possible accommodator."

Sarra nodded at the information and smiled at the man who had decided there might be more answers to his many questions if he joined the group.

"Chaoji, this is Sarra, Sarra, meet Chaoji." Lavi introduced the two formally.

"It's nice to meet you." Sarra said, extending her hand.

"Um, likewise." Chaoji chuckled, giving her a half smile and taking her hand. Sarra wasn't so slow as not to notice the questioning glance he gave Lavi.

"She's a fellow exorcist such as myself. She came to help us; actually, you may have seen her right before we arrived on the ark."

Chaoji nodded and returned Sarra's stares with a brighter smile.

"Ok guys, let's go find Allen!" Lavi cheered. Sarra's eyes lit up at the name while a darker aura shrouded Chaoji.

--------

"I'm ALIVE!!!!" Mizuki jumped with excitement as the stairs slowly reconstructed themselves into their firm mould once more. "I was certain that would be it, guess God doesn't want us dead just yet." An evil grin spread across her face while she planned what she was going to do to Lavi when she got out of the cursed place.

"Fuck."

A wane voice alerted Mizuki that planning torture was not her key priority. "You know, Eas, swearing isn't good for someone so… EAS?!?!?"

Dark circles ringed around Eas' equally dark eyes but the colour was slowly returning to her face. "That's my name; try not to wear it out." The girl smiled meekly.

"But you were dead!" Mizuki stuttered, leaving her mouth open like she was trying to catch flies.

"Too bad, seems like I just can't escape this place." Eas winked.

A moment passed before Eas grunted disapprovingly. "So, uh, are you going to help me up or just stand there like a dumb ass?"

Mizuki clapped her lips together and gave her a big watery smile before grabbing her in a big wet hug.

"Oh gross, Mizuki, you're getting snot all over me!!" Eas screamed, shoving half heartedly at the girl. Before long she found her own arms wrapping around her friend, tears slipping from her unwilling eyes. _I know it was him…_

"Ok seriously, Mizuki, you're hurting me now…" Two snotty smiles appeared as Mizuki hoisted the little girl on her back, taking to the stairs once again; though this time she was at peace with the world.

----------------

"Che."

"So warm…"

"Get off of me."

Those cold words woke Seraphina from her peaceful slumber. "Huh?" The girl sat up from her position on the angry boys lap and looked around. "What? We aren't dead?!?"

Kandas' cold eyes averted Seraphina's. He gazed out over the expanse of the enormous room.

"Hey Kanda, what's wrong?" Seraphina inquired, thinking back to before they "died."

"Oh, umm, I mean, so umm, what up?" Seraphina flushed crimson and played with the words on her tongue.

The bear chest Seraphina had been spying like a stalker rose from her gaze, replacing her view with his dark ripped pant uniform.

"Where are you going?" She stuttered, the blush still ripe on her face.

Words eluded Seraphina's ears as Kanda made his way to the free standing building.

"I'll come with you!" Seraphina dragged herself up and rushed over to Kanda's figure. "What's wrong with you?" She demanded. "I know you're an ass, but you don't have to ignore me!" She jumped in front of him so he couldn't walk any further. "Seriously, what's your problem? Look at me!" She grabbed his jaw but he quickly batted her hand away.

"What the hell Kanda!" Seraphina was seriously getting pissed. "This isn't funny! Talk to me!"

The man grabbed her shoulder and shoved her out of the way.

"Ok, well if you want it that way." Seraphina snarled. With a running start, she leaped onto his back, shoving him to the ground, giving him a good mouth full of sand.

"What the hell?!" He gagged.

"Show me your face." Seraphina demanded, attempting to roll him over.

"Like hell." He swatted his hand at her but she caught it in her mouth and bit down hard.

"YEARGHH! What the hell?!" Kanda twisted over and pushed the girls head back with his palm, tugging at his captured hand.

"New it." She chuckled as drool escaped her mouth, dripping down his hand unattractively. Spikes ran up his back and Kanda shoved at her harder.

"Nasty! Let go of me, you could have rabies!"

One hard chomp sent pain relapsing through his hand before it was released, hard red welts forming in the shape of her teeth and drool draped all over it.

"Well at least my face isn't lit up like a Christmas tree." Seraphina commented while wiping the left over saliva off her mouth.

"Che!" Once again, Kanda's eyes were on the horizon, and uncharacteristically, a small flush crawled over his face.

"Whatever. I don't care about you anyways. I just have a fear of dying alone." Seraphina shrugged, lifting herself off of him.

"I thought you were afraid of dying in general." Kanda grunted, smearing his wet hand across his pants.

"Well it's not that bad if you're with the right person." Seraphina shrugged. Now it was her turn to avert her gaze.

"Che, whatever."

"Saying _Che_ doesn't make you cool, you know." Seraphina sneered.

Kanda glared daggers at her and started back towards his previous destination.

"Ok well, whatever, I'm going to see if the other doors back, so have fun going the wrong way." She snapped, turning away from Kanda. She stormed across the barren land, her thoughts continuously returning to the man walking the opposite way as her.

_I won't take it back_.

-------------

"I'm DYING!!!!" Crowley, please move, I'm going to suffocate!"

"Please, Crowley, I'm seriously going to die!" Alexandreina squirmed underneath the massive man.

"Mmmm." A low rumble slipped through his lips and Alexandreina smiled against the man.

"That's it, hey, can you here me? Wake up. You need to move Crowley." Alexandreina rested her hand on his head and stroked her fingers through his hair. She hesitated on his cheek and nearly had a heart attack when it started moving.

"Crowley! Hey good morning sleepy…"

"Eliade…" Crowley's weak voice sliced Alexandreina's sentence in half.

"He he, Crowley, what are you saying? It's me, Alexandreina."

"Mmmm, Eliade." Another whisper of the Taboo name slipped past his limp lips.

An almost hysteric laugh exited the girl as her knee cap forced itself into Crowleys tender area, forcing the breath out of him which caused him to fall on his side, releasing Mizuki from her tight prison.

"Oops. Sorry about that." The girl smiled through gritted teeth. "Guess I shouldn't have lifted my leg so quickly."

"You know I hate you, right?"

Alexandreina turned to the door that rested in the middle of the room. A shadow jumped down the steps and into the light of the room.

_Oh shit she looks angry_. "Hey there Vasilisa!" Alexandreina sang, skipping over to her sister. "Where have you been? I missed you."

"You know you deserve this." Before she let Alexandreina get another word in, Vasilisa's fist slammed into her sisters' face, the girl plummeting backwards from the force. As she hit the ground, Vasilisa quickly shoved her foot onto the girls face, grinding it into the tiled floor, a devilish sneer on her face.

"Try to ditch me, eh? What the Fuck happened to "Sisters?" More like "ditchers" to me." She quickly stomped on her sisters' face until it reddened and showed signs of her boot on it. With one last grunt of effort, she kicked the back of Alexandreina's' head like a soccer ball, sending her flying once more. She cracked her knuckles and flipped her short deep purple hair back.

"Ok sis, you got your point across. "Alexandreina's sweet voice came from the wobbling form.

"Oh like hell am I done with you." Vasilisa growled, aiming for another kick to the girls face.

Her boot collided with Alexandreina's hand as the girl intercepted her attack. With a creative move, Alexandreina twisted her sisters' foot so she flipped onto the ground. Taking the opportunity, Alexandreina pinned the girl to the ground in a vice grip.

"I did what I had to do sister. You would to if you had someone you loved!"

Vasilisa yanked at her sisters' arm. "Oh and I suppose spending five minutes with him before your impending doom is enough to confirm you love him?" She spat back, arching her back up and aiming her head at Alexandreina's face, forcing her to do a backwards roll off Vasilisa to dodge the hit.

"I know love when I see it, and I love Crowley!" Alexandreina snapped.

"You suck! I thought you loved me you bitch!" Vasilisa locked hands with her sister and pushed against her with all her might.

"That's a different type of love and you know it, stupid!" Alexandreina huffed with the same amount of exertion.

"Whatever, you're still not in love!" Vasilisa spat on her sister, causing Alexandreina to gasp in disgust and hurl her sister to the side, leaping on her like a jungle cat.

"Uh..."

The girls looked up, one finger in each others noses, the other hand wrapped around each others' hair. Kanda stood at the far wall, beside the only other door in the place. His shocked expression melted off his face quickly. Without a word, he travelled over to Crowley, slung the mans' arm over his shoulder, and dragged him out of the room without a second glance at the girls.

"Crowley!" Alexandreina sniffled, tears escaping her disfigured face.

"Oh shut up." Vasilisa murmured, releasing her sister and shoving her away. "Let's go find the others, shall we?" Vasilisa gave her sister a meek half smile and extended her hand to her.

"Yeah." Alexandreina replied, taking it.

"You seriously need to wipe your nose though, that's just disgusting." Vasilisa teased, crinkling her nose.

--------------

"Seraphina!" Mizuki sauntered over to her friend, tears streaming down her face.

"Mizuki? Eas?" Seraphina squeaked while Mizuki gave her a bear hug, Eas' sleeping face squishing against her own. "Wah? How far did you get? Where are the others?"

"I'm here." Sarra came into view with Lavi and Chaoji fallowing after him. Lavi was screaming something about ribs and dumplings.

Sarra joined the group hug, her own tears mixing with Mizuki's. "I thought we'd lost you, Seraphina!" She sniffled happily.

"Yeah, well I did too, but seems like it takes a lot more than that to kill me." She chuckled, pushing Mizuki away from her as best as she could so she could breathe.

Soon Kanda appeared with Crowley on his back. "Yu!" Lavi cheered, running to the always angry man. Alexandreina and Vasilisa quietly squeezed out of the doorway, avoiding Lavi's babble and skipped over to their little group, hands firmly intertwined.

"Hey guys." They smiled in unison.

"The groups all together! "Mizuki snotted, grabbing for the sisters who skilfully avoided her.

"Allen!!!!" Sarra nearly fainted at the sight of Allen walking out from one of the many doors.

"Hey Sarra! Long time no see!" He smiled sweetly at her, setting her heart on fire.

"Took you long enough, bean sprout."

Allens angelic face turned demon as he came to face Kanda. "It's Allen, thank you very much!"

"whatever, bean sprout."

"It's ALLEN!"

"It's good to see those two joking around again." Sarra giggled.

"I'm not sure they are really joking." Vasilisa commented as the two boys entertained fighting stances.

"Well, we need to find a way out of here." Lavi reminded the group.

"You're right." Allen returned his focus onto the task at hand. "Girls, could you search to the south of here, and we will search to the north?"

"Splitting up so soon?" Tears welled up in half the group's eyes.

"We will all be back together soon, we just need to be quick and find an exit." Allen reminded the girls sweetly.

"Makes sense." Seraphina, one of the few not crying, shrugged. "C'mon girls, lets leave the idiots. The sooner we get out of here, the sooner we get to eat."

Stomachs from both groups exploded in rumbles at the sound of the word food and both sides quickly scampered off to find the exit.

-------------------

"Welcome back everybody!"

Komui was waiting as the large group exited the newly moved ark onto familiar lands.

"It's good to be home." The girls replied before dispersing to their selected people.

"Lavi, may I speak with you for a moment please?" Mizuki smiled sweetly. She urged the boy to a silent corner.

"So." She started. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, and you?" Lavi asked, picking up on her prickly undertones.

"Oh I'm just fine and dandy." Mizuki laughed, rage clearly being suppressed in her.

"You would think otherwise considering the hell I've had to go through recently because of your idiotic group, but, you know, I'm all good." She gave Lavi a few slaps on the back, each time the hit growing stronger and faster until she was pounding on him with all her force.

"Ow, Ow! Mizuki cut it out! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to put you through all that!" Lavi yelped, shielding himself from her attacks.

"As long as you understand how much you OWE me." Mizuki smirked, the anger draining from her.

Lavi sighed with relief and gave her the thumbs up. "OK!"

"Good." Mizuki grinned. Lavi scratched his nose and chuckled.

"Oi, you two, out of the shadows and come join the group!" A voice scolded them.

"Coming!" Mizuki called back, giving Lavi a little wink before running back to the group.

"Wow, Sarra, you would be a pro assassin! Alexandreina cheered as she noticed Sarra peeping around a corner.

"Gosh! Alexandreina, you scared me!" Sarra gasped.

"So who are we spying on?" Alexandreina asked, stretching her neck around the corner.

"No one!" Sarra pushed hard on her friend, restraining her from viewing what she had been looking at for the past few minutes.

"Aww, c'mon! I just wanna peek!" Alexandreina strained in Sarra's death grip. "Oh, hey Allen."

Sarra's hands shot off Alexandreina's waist and to her face as Allen rounded the corner.

"Hello Alexandreina, Sarra, what are you guys doing?"

"We are spying!" Alexandreina grinned, missing the hands that were straining to cover her mouth.

"Who are you spying on?" Allen inquired, looking back behind him.

"I don't know, I was just asking Sarra that." Alexandreina replied.

Allen's eyes met Sarra's' and she quickly turned and bolted for the door.

"Sarra?" He called after her while Alexandreina commented on how fast she could run.

Before she reached the doors, however, they swung open, missing her by a hair.

A dark figure emanating pure evil stood in the doorway. The hair on the back of every exorcist stood pin straight as the woman strutted into the room. In two seconds a mass frenzy broke out as all the injured exorcists attempted to make their escape. It wasn't long before they were all captured and dragged to their designated hospital rooms. The girls' room was jammed with the entirety of the Alternate squad along with Miranda and Lenalee. The boys' room was across the hall.

"Why can't I visit them?!" Alexandreina demanded. "I'm barely hurt, I mean I'm all bandaged up and my wounds are pretty much healed so why must I stay here?!" The head nurse pushed the fussing girl back onto the hard bed and held her there despite her struggles.

"I apologize but you must stay here until your wounds are completely healed and as for visiting the men's ward, that is strictly prohibited, as is the other way around." The head nurse urged, allowing another nurse to hold her down while she produced a needle from under her robes.

"You're not going to stick me with that, are you?" Alexandreina asked, her eye twitching at the size of the needle.

"This will help calm you down and let your wounds heal better." The head nurse replied, draining a clear fluid into the needle.

"Like hell I'd allow that!" Alexandreina kicked fiercely until three more nurses piled on her. "Vasilisa, you have to help me!" Alexandreina screeched, turning her head to the bed beside her where her sister lay.

"Sorry sis, too sleepy. I used my innocence way to much and now," She gave a big yawn and settled back into the bad. "Now I'm afraid I'm just too tired to do anything for you."

"You traitor!" Alexandreina screamed. "You traitor…"

"Peace at last!" Mizuki sighed contentedly, a novel sitting in her lap as she propped up her pillows higher.

"You should be lying down." The head nurse eyed her.

"I'm fine; I've already gotten lots of rest!" Mizuki countered, grabbing her book quickly and using it as a barrier between her and the head nurse.

"And where do you think you're going?!" The head nurse had Seraphina by the ear in a split second and dragged her out from beneath the bed closest to the door.

"Damnit!" Seraphina screeched, tugging at the women's wrist.

"Get back to bed!" The women screamed.

"But Eas is snoring really loudly!" Seraphina yelled back, pointing at the tiny girl who was exerting large scary noises.

"Deal with it!" Mizuki growled at her, not raising her eyes from her book. "At least you didn't have a hole blown through you."

"Any idea who did that to her?" Sarra chimed in from her bed beside Mizuki.

"No, she didn't tell me. Actually, she fell asleep pretty well right after the ark was reconstructed." Mizuki stated.

"Well I'm sure it was because of something stupid." Seraphina growled, shoving herself off the head nurse and jumping back on her bed, rubbing her ear violently.

"_Hey Tyki, long time no see!"_

"_Yeah, Eas, sorry, my work has been really busy lately."_

"_That's alright, I didn't mind waiting. Do you have anything for me?"_

"_Yeah, it's a really special necklace."_

"_Thank you, Tyki!"_

"_My pleasure, Eas. Where would you like to go next?"_

"_Anywhere, as long as it's with you."_

"As long as it's with you…" Eas mumbled in her sleep, the edge of her bed wet with salty tears.

------------

*Extra*

"Dun Dun Dah, Dah Dun Dun DOOM Dananananana!!!!" broken vocals echoed in the ceiling vents, registering back to the singer that her voice was less than pretty. "Dum Doo Dum!!" Alexandreina's head popped into the sterilized room. "Hiya folks!" She cheered, letting herself fall from the ceiling. Lavi's head connected with hers on the way down and passed out while cushioning her fall.

"Ouch! Lavi, watch where your head is! You should have moved out of my way; that really hurts!" She scolded the boy. After earning herself no response, she quickly got bored and traipsed over to where the inert form of Count Crowley lay, passed out like usual.

"Oh poo, I was hoping he'd be awake by now." The girl admired the man's pale face and highlighted bangs until she heard the angry footsteps of her captor. "Damnit, I thought I'd lost her!" she cursed, jumping under Crowley's sheets.

"Where is she?!" The head nurse demanded, bursting through the doors. She was met with two hands belonging to Noise Marie and Chaoji, both pointing to the bed Crowley belonged to. The head nurse also noted that while Lavi was being a good boy and getting some rest, Allen and Kanda both were missing. The nurse stomped over to Crowley's bed, grabbing her sedative filled needle for her attack, and ripped the sheets off of the man.

"Oh, well guess I won't need this." The nurse chuckled, slipping the needle back under her robes.

Alexandreina was passed out, her face as red as a tomato, next to Crowley's bare white chest.

"That's one way to knock her out." She laughed, dragging the girl up with the help of a few other nurses and carrying her back to her designated bed.

"Thank you, Alexandreina." Seraphina whispered under her breath, thankful for the diversion. "Looks like he's not in his bed…"

"It's rude to just enter some ones room." A familiar voice floated to Seraphina as she struggled to get down from the vent.

"That's pretty mean considering I just risked my life to come see you."

"You can hardly consider evading the head nurse and braving a few spiders risking your life." Kanda grunted from his place of meditation.

"It was still pretty scary in there, and hello, have you met the head nurse? I would rather fight an entire Noah army then get on her bad side!" Seraphina grunted as she swung her legs down into the room. The floor looked a lot farther down than she had remembered.

"If it's so bad to be breaking the rules, then why are you here?" Kanda inquired.

"Ah, yes. Well, there is a reason I came all this way, if I could just get down from here," She lowered herself so that only her arms and head where still in the vent, her legs swinging around in the air, trying to make contact with some sort of support.

"Can you be quiet please? I'm trying to meditate here." Kanda grunted.

"What? I thought you wanted to know why I'm here!" Seraphina exhaled, trying to remain balanced in the vent.

"I'd rather quiet." He stated bluntly.

"Well if you would help me down, I would gladly leave you in peace!" Seraphina huffed, clawing at the mettle.

"Don't break my freaking ceiling!" Kanda shouted, his voice coming closer.

"Don't call me a fat cow!" Seraphina screamed back, her nails sliding further towards the opening.

"When the hell did I call you that?!" He demanded; now right beneath the entrance to the vent Seraphina was hanging out of.

"Well I can't hear very damn well in this god forsaken bat cave!" She retorted, tears welling in her eyes as she slipped further into the empty space, Kanda's head only just reaching her toes.

"Jump."

"You want me to DIE?!" Seraphina demanded, her face crinkling up with hate and fear.

"No, I do not want you to die, idiot. I'm telling you to jump because I know you'll be fine."

"How do you know that?" She sniffed.

"Idiot. I'm going to catch you." Kanda barked. As if to emphasize his statement, he raised his arms up to her.

"Kanda!" Seraphina sniffled, overwhelmed by his kindness. "Ok, on the count of three, one, two, three!"

Seraphina pushed herself off the vent, letting gravity take her into his warm arms. Unfortunately for her, warm arms eluded her, and instead she received cold hard floor on her backside.

"What happened to catching me, idiot?!" she bellowed, rubbing her stinging arse.

Silence greeted her and she looked over to see Kanda twitching on the ground, a foot print red hot on his face.

"Kanda! Crap I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to kick you when I fell, it just sort of happened; are you OK?"

"Get out." Kanda raised his head and pointed to the door, his fine eyebrows narrowing over his eyes.

"OK, OK but seriously, are you alright? Umm, your nose is bleeding."

Blood seeped down Kanda's nose, staining his skin crimson. "Che." Was his reply to the statement.

"One minute, I think I have a tissue." Seraphina fussed, digging into the pockets of her little shorts. "Ok here, got some."

"I don't need your tissues." Kanda grunted.

"Shut up. It's my fault your nose is bleeding; I might as well help stop it.

"Whatever."

"You know, I've always wondered why you were such an ass, but I guess that's just you." Seraphina quirked a smile and Kanda raised an eye brow. "I don't mean it as a bad thing, mostly. I just mean you're different." She replaced the bloody tissue with another and continued. "Like you're honest, well mostly you're broody and silent and a real jerk, but at least you tell it straight, and we all know you have a good heart."

"I think there were more stabs against me then there were compliments in your statement." Kanda grunted.

"Yeah, sorry, you are still and ass after all." Seraphina shrugged. She tilted his head back to check if there was any more blood. When she found none, she smiled triumphantly.

"Oh yeah, here's another compliment…" Seraphina leaned into Kanda, grabbing his lips with hers and held it there, triumphant that he didn't try to pull away. She let go of him and smiles sheepishly. "I mean it's not much of one but still, it's worth something, righ…?"

Kanda grabbed Seraphina's head and crushed his lips against hers once more, feeling familiar warmth in them. _Nice, she's wearing cherry lip gloss…_

_---_--

Oh my, it seems our little hate couple is coming to terms.

IT'S SO UNBEARABLY SAD!!!

This will be the final chapter of my D. Gray-man story, besides one bonus chapter I will write A.S.A.P for my lovely devoted viewer's enjoyment.

I have enjoyed this story so much and will miss all these sweet characters!!!

Thank you for all you viewers continued support and I hope you enjoyed my story! Please read the extra chapter when I post it, I promise you it will be worth while!


	15. The Final Act

Gaaaahhhh I am sooo sorry if you are reading this and have been following me all the way through. I am a horrible person to delay this so increadibly long, especially when I promised a swift entry on the last chapter! I really am sorry and I hope you forgive me after you read this last and final chapter. It is set about 7 years into the future and is based on what would happen after they defeated the Earl and all the other evil felons in DGM. I had actually created most of this a few weeks after my last release, but I got stuck on what I wanted to do and how to continue and school (I can go on with excuses, but you see the point). I know I was always so careful to keep my fanfic as if it could be possible by screwing with the main plot line as little as possible. This ending was nearly impossible to create by doing such (such as all the crap going on with Kanda) so please disregard any differences from the time skip the original creator of -Man, Katsura Hoshino created, as I could not possibly keep to that plot, considering how confused I still am about it.

Regardless, please enjoy, and again, I apologize for my tardiness. (And possible grammatical errors)

* * *

"How many years has it been, sister? So much has happened since you passed. I don't know where to start. I've really grown up since we were kids, I've really matured. Maybe it's because my baby of a husband forces me to be the adult one. Either way… I'm sorry we don't visit you very often; it's been hard since we've moved to Transylvania. I'm sure you're not lonely though, you lay with so many companions, I'm almost jealous." A slender hand smeared a few stray tears across her face. "Ves and Tim, that's my kids' names. Yes, I did name my eldest after you, and she resembles you so well, too. I named my youngest, Tim, after that funny little golem that was always stalking Allen. It seems silly, but the boy eats as much as Tim and Allen combined. He's still a baby though so I'm excited to see if his appetite calms down once he's grown. What else?"

The smooth surface of the gravestone tingled her fingers as she slid them along its exterior. "I own a flower shop now! Can you believe it? I would have thought it to be boring but it's not all that bad, plus I can go out whenever I want, being my own boss as it is. I don't have to worry about money because of the orders generous contributions to all its workers. Guess all that money going into making us more effective in war became useless after it ended."

"Alexandreina!" A deep voice trickled into her ears. Shrill laughter sounded from the base of the hill as two children came bounding up it. The girl, aged around 5 was the spitting image of Vasilisa, her short purple locks bouncing as she ran. As always, Tims' hand was locked in hers. The tiny boy with platinum blonde hair, the likes his parents had no idea were came from, and cute chubby cheeks waddled up the hill, half dragged by his excited older sister.

"looks like I have to go, sister. Life is calling, and as much as I wish you could join me, I know I must move on. I love you." Alexandreina smiled at the gravestone and then ran to her kids, scooping the youngest up in her arms and twirled him around, letting his giggles fill the air.

As the three descended the hill, the father stepped up to the grave, placing a large bouquet of flowers at the base. "Vasilisa, thank you very much for your efforts in that last war. I know you weren't the biggest fan of it, but you gave it your all for your sister, and in the end, when it was yours or her life that was to be given…" Crowley worked on holding back his sobs, promising himself he would not go back to his pathetic ways. "Thank you for your sacrifice. I would have never known love again if Alexandreina had died. If you hadn't disabled your sister and ran after the Noah yourself, she would have been the one six feet under. So one last time, I thank you, for your heroic efforts."

Crowley wiped his eyes until they were clear of tears, but still held a glossy shine. He bowed his head in respects and then followed his wife, ready to take the long road back to his home, their home.

* * *

"You had better be almost ready, Kanda, or I'm going to have to come up there and lay a beating on you!" Seraphina waited for a few seconds and then stomped up the old steps leading to her husbands' quarters. Without hesitation, she kicked the door in. To her bemusement, Li, her son, was standing on the bed, fixing her fuming husbands tie.

"Mommy!" The boy cried out, abandoning his embarrassed father's side to give her a big hug.

"Now what is this?" She asked, rubbing the boys head and glancing at the father. "A grown man doesn't even know how to dress a tie?" Li's amused giggles darkened his fathers face further. "Come on; let me show you how it's done." Seraphina shooed her son from the room and grabbed hold of Kanda's tie, looping it around into a professional knot. "That wasn't so hard, was it?" She teased the man, pleased with his pissed off face.

"Che." Was his answer.

"We had better leave or Komui might barge in with some crazy invention, worried why we weren't at his place." Seraphina smiled.

Kanda grunted. "He can wait." He grabbed her back and tugged her closer to him.

"What happened to the aloof guy I always knew?" Seraphina giggled, tugging harder on Kanda's tie.

"Shut up." He growled, lowering his lips onto hers. "How's your stomach?" Kanda lowered his eyes to Seraphina's belly, its roundness growing bigger by the day.

"It's good." She slid her hands over the bulge. "Sometimes I think it's practicing with one of your swords, but it's calm right now." Kanda attempted a smile and slipped his fingers through her long wavy blonde hair.

"I'm serious now, we have to leave. I'm not going to risk our house getting destroyed, again." Seraphina gave Kanda a slight push and went to retrieve their son.

* * *

"Dinner time!" Sarra sang, peering down the long English style hallway. Soft piano music echoed from the living room, directing her to where he was.

"Allen, it's going to get cold." She scolded the man, his lengthened snow hair tied back.

"Sorry, love." The music stopped and Allen drifted over to Sarra, the smell of fresh food urging him on.

"Don't you ever get tired of playing the same song over and over again?" She asked, her eyes locked on the piano.

"Not really, besides, the fact I was able to play that piece on the ark so many years ago allowed me to help defeat the Earl." He passed her, heading for the food in the kitchen.

Sarra twirled a piece of her straight brown hair on her finger, contemplating his answer.

"I guess so." She shrugged, turning and heading back to join him for dinner.

"Seraphina's having another baby. Sarra commented, holding up a neatly folded letter.

"That's nice." Allen said through his teeth.

"I know you can't imagine anyone loving Kanda, but I still think we should go visit them."

"Yes, and now that I'm taller, he won't be able to call me bean sprout anymore!"

Sarra burst Allens bubble when she stated. "I still think he's going to call you that, regardless of how tall you are."

"Then I'll just have to challenge him to a game of poker, I've kept my skills up so it should still be easy in defeating him." Horns grew on Allens head and Sarra tried not to envision what he was thinking.

* * *

"Friends!" Komui's bear hug was interrupted by a sharp glint of mettle resting against his neck.

"Enough, Kanda." Seraphina growled, tugging on her husbands arm roughly. Li was enjoying the show, clapping and laughing.

"I see you're as testy as ever, Kanda." Lenalee stepped out from the next room, her long black hair following her movements as she crossed the room.

"Aunty Lenlee!" Li cried, running up to her in all his youthful vibrancy, giving her a giant toothy grin.

"I see you're doing well, Li!" Lenalee smiled, hoisting him up to give him a kiss.

"Lenalee, I see you are doing well." Seraphina abandoned her husbands arm to collect Lenalees'.

"Yes, it's been nice and peaceful here, just like it used to be." Lenalee chuckled as Li pulled at her arm to regain her attention.

"Miss Lenlee, is my favourite person coming?" Li asked excitedly.

"Yes, I believe he is. Lenalee smiled, ruffling the boys hair. In a few days, everyone will be here."

"Are you serious?" Seraphina gasped. "Everyone?"

"It wouldn't be a reunion without them, now would it?" Lenalee placed the boy back on her hip and grabbed Seraphina's hand. "Come now, you will stay here tonight, and help me prepare. People should be arriving by tomorrow. It's been hard getting a hold of everyone, but I'm sure it will be worth it."

Seraphina beamed. "I can't believe it. It's been years since I've seen everybody…"

"LIKE HELL."

"Oh good, Komui has told Kanda." Lenalee giggled.

"Seraphina, we are leaving. I refuse to see that ba-" Lenalee quickly covered Li's ears before Kanda continued. "stards face ever again!"

"Oh calm down Kanda." Seraphina sighed. "You're acting like a child."

"We are leaving. NOW." Kanda turned to the door, ready to storm out.

"Have it your way." Seraphina grinned. "Just don't expect any company tonight."

"CHE." Kanda stormed past the girls, stomping up the stairs and into the room that was to be theirs the next few nights.

"You really know how to get him to cooperate." Lenalee gaped, dumbfounded.

"How else did you except me to live with him? He's like a Rottweiler. Once dominance is established, he's an obedient dog." Seraphina lifted her son from Lenalee's arms and left her with a wink, trailing after her fuming husband.

"Friends!"

"Eaugh!" Allen nearly flew out the door when Komui attacked him with a giant bear hug.

"Komui! It's been so long! How are you?" Sarra asked, a small British accent lining her speech.

"Fabulous!" Komui twirled in the entry hall, tears spewing from his eyes.

"Uh huh." Allen looked around for a friendly face.

"Allen!" Another hug, this time soft and warm, came from Lenalee, a large grin enveloping her face.

"Hey, isn't that hug lasting a little too long?" Sarra asked, veins pulsing in her clenched fists.

"Sarra!" Lenalee broke her hug with Allen to tackle her old friend.

"It's been a while, hasn't it." Sarra smiled, accepting the hug.

"Sarra!" Seraphina's voice trilled from the stairs, her rounded figure leeping out to join the growing crowd.

"How were your travels? I heard you and Allen went all over the world!" Seraphina pressed, excited for some new stories.

"Oh they were wonderful!" Sarra gushed. "There's nothing like admiring architecture without worrying when the next Akuma's going to show up!"

Lenalee smiled and ushered the crowd inside, arranging the dining room table for dinner. As the group got seated, large thumps sounded down the stairs, and an enraged Kanda appeared with Li in tow, wailing his head off.

"Here." He growled, nearly throwing the kid at Seraphina, who quickly cooed him into silence. Kanda slumped into his chair, moving it ninety degrees to the left to face his wife completely, and abolish all sight of Allen, who sat two seats to his right, separated by an uneasy Sarra.

"Good to see you, Kanda." Allen chirped, prickles edging into his voice.

Seraphina nudged Kanda, giving him her best death glare until he forfeited, giving Allen a half nod in his direction and a grumbled "Che."

Allen shrugged and looked around the table at his friends. "So who else is coming?"

Before anyone could answer, however, Komui's poor door flew down the hall, greeted by a deafening thud that sent Li reeling back in sobs.

"I'm going to kill the person that did that!" Kanda roared, jumping up from his seat only to be put in a sleepers hold by Seraphina.

"We're here!" Alexandreina echoed down the hall, skipping in with her two children in each hand and husband slinking behind her. "Sorry we're late! Tim needed like twenty three food stops and double that in diaper stations! It took a while." She giggled, squeezing her sons hand affectionately.

"It's so nice to see you again!" Lenalee squealed, moving to greet the newcomers. "You're just in time for dinner!"

Tim squealed in delight, clapping his hands excitedly. "Yeah, he seems to be happy about that." Alexandreina smiled, taking a seat next to Komui. Crowley gave Lenalee's hand a tentative shake and followed his wife to his seat.

"This means we're only missing Mizuki, and Lavi, I believe. Lenalee counted, reviewing the group before her.

"Lavi's just trying to create a dramatic entrance." Allen joked.

"I don't think anyone could beat Alexandreina's." Sarra corrected him, nodding at the badly damaged door. Allen nodded in approval.

"Ok, so we have sushi, dumplings, rice, soup, and chicken teriyaki." Lenalee smiled, bringing out the dishes.

Allen instantly pounced on the food, quickly pulled back by Sarra as the rations dwindled.

Lenalee laughed, waving an irritated Sarra off and quickly returned to the kitchen to bring out more food. "I had a feeling he'd still have that appetite." She giggled.

Alexandreina's son, Tim, looked at Allen in awe, before grabbing a portion nearly his entire body weight.

Lenalee showed the couples to their rooms, Alexandreina, Crowley and her children on the far left down the hall, Allen and Sarra beside them, and Seraphina Kanda and Li at the end on the right. They took Komui's room, leaving the distraught man to the couch.

* * *

The knock came at midnight, instantly alerting the group. They'd never really gotten used to the peace and quiet following the defeat of the Noah's, so a loud rap on the door easily set the sleepers hairs on end.

Komui was the first to reach the door seeing as he was sleeping on the couch. As the rest of the ex-exorcists filed down the stairs, raucous laughter filled the house. Lavi burst through the door, fallowed by a giggling Mizuki.

"What's so funny?" Allen inquired, joining the laughing man at the front.

Lavi waved at him between gasps. "Inside. Joke."

Mizuki nodded, clutching her sides.

Lenalee sighed, pushing to the front. "Are you two hungry at all? You must have had a long day of travel if you're getting in at this time of night."

Mizuki shook her head. "Nah, we stopped off at a bar before coming here. He had the old women serving us drinks hitting on him." She stopped to take a few breathes before continuing; "Guess I'm just too young for him!"

Lavi burst into another lapse of laughter, gasping and holding his sides. Mizuki nearly shoved him inside as Komui tentatively shut the still damaged door behind them.

"Ok ok, well I may as well show you to your room then-" Lenalee was cut off by Mizuki.

"Oh sorry Lenalee, we'll be needing separate rooms, you see, he gave the barmaid your address, and I don't doubt she'll be along in a short while." Mizuki grinned devilishly as Lavi crumpled to the floor, his laughter becoming silent wheezing gasps. Lenalee huffed but returned a polite smile before gesturing for them to follow her upstairs. The rest of the Exorcists that had bothered to greet the two late-comers quickly returned to their rooms, less then happy.

Komui and Mizuki shoved Lavi up the stairs, as he seemed no longer able to stand between his obvious intoxication and continued spurts of laughter. Lenalee showed them to their room, where the two promptly shoved Lavi onto the mattress where he nearly instantly fell asleep. Mizuki thanked the two and apologized a few times before shutting the door to their room and joining her partner on their mattress.

* * *

Breakfast was hectic, as the dining table barely held three quarters of the attendants, and each had to sit elbow to elbow with each other. Lenalee chatted with Mizuki about their travels, Lavi having taken up the "family business."

"It's actually pretty fun." Mizuki remarked. "Lots of action, of course we aren't aloud to meddle in things, but at least we get to have some fun." Lenalee nodded and chuckled, admiring Mizuki's continued thirst for adventure.

The group quickly scarffed back the delicious meal and Lenalee, followed by a begrudged Komui cleared the table and began cleaning the dishes.

As the group settled into familiar banter, Lavi shouting jokes, many at Kanda's expense, a slight rumble echoed through the floorboards. Li looked down from his position on the floor next to Ves. A frightened whine escaped his lips though Ves merely jumped up and down crying "boom!"

As the rumbling grew louder, the adults began to notice.

"Is there some sort of construction going on around here, Komui?" Allen asked, looking out the nearby window into the soft fields surrounding the quaint house.

"No, why do you ask?" Komui shouted over the running water.

Another rumble shook the floor, this time much louder, sending Ves tumbling to the ground. Li was now bursting into loud sobs, running over to his mother. Allen kneeled down and cupped his ear to the floor, listening for another sound to give him an inkling of what the mysterious noise belonged to.

"Hey Komui, do you feel that?" Lenalee stopped scrubbing the plate in her hands and listened hard. Before Komui could answer, another loud rumbling sounded, growing steadily louder.

"Ah, no, it couldn't be. I locked him up tight." Komui frowned in concentration, listening to the metal grinding sounding right below their feet.

"What did you put in the basement?" Lenalee demanded, stripping off her gloves and moving to the basement door.

"Ah, that may not be the wisest move." Komui grabbed her back from the door as the house gave another giant shudder and suddenly the basement door was cracking open, an angry red light pouring from the cracks.

"Everyone get back!" Allen and Komui yelled at the same time. Komui dived back into the kitchen with Lenalee in tow. Alexandreina and Crowley scooped up their children and Seraphina held Li as tight as she could against her bulging stomach.

The red light continued to grow until a great thundering erupted and the door along with part of the wall separating the concealed stairs from the hall way exploded into splinters that flew past and rained down upon the surprised visitors.

A Giant form forced its way through the debris, pushing itself to half its full height where it came in contact with the ceiling which gave a quake as the monsters frame challenged the structure of the house.

"Komui!" Kanda snarled, staring up at the all too familiar figure.

"I made it so long ago, and I didn't have the heart to destroy it!" Komui whined from the doorway where he cowered.

"That isn't what I think it is, is it?" Sarra gasped as they gaped at the struggling machine.

"Komurin." Mizuki whispered, anticipation and a hint of excitement lighting her eyes.

"Actually." Komui cleared his throat, inching his way from the doorway slightly. "It's Komurin 6.5." A watery smile made its way to his face as he peered up at his precious creation.

"6.5?" Sarra asked, confused about the choice of numbering. "Wasn't number six smashed to pieces by Alexandreina all those years ago?"

"Yes," Komui murmured, sending black glances to the girl standing beside her already quaking husband. "But I managed to scrounge up some of the pieces and rebuild him, just like Frankenstein's monster!"

"Interesting reference." Seraphina remarked, looking up at the alternate patches of metal holding the suggested monster together.

"But why does it look like it's ready to squish us flat? We didn't spill any coffee or anything, did we?" Sarra squeaked, looking back at the disrupted table.

"It must be mad at it's creator for leaving it all by its lonesome for so long!" Komui cried, flinging his arms outwards dramatically.

"So that means if we give you to it, it will go back into its cage like a fed lion?" Seraphina jibed, earning an approving look from Kanda.

"That's not funny." Lenalee interjected, giving the two a disapproving look that melted into a harsh glare when turned towards her brother. "How could you keep that thing here, when you knew it could blow up the house at any point in time? How did you expect us to destroy it without our innocence?"

Komui cowered away from his sisters demands. "We don't have to destroy him! He's just lonely! His feelings are probably hurt because we didn't invite him to the party!"

"Feelings?" Kanda scoffed before yanking out the katana he almost never parted with. "Che, I'll just slice IT to pieces before it can do any more damage."

At this Komui flew in front of the giant robot, wailing in a high-pitched girly way that even made Li hesitate questioningly between his rolling sobs. "No!" He screamed, throwing his arms out defensively to protect the massive creature. "You can't hurt him! He's already been through so much! If you want to hurt him, you'll have to go through me!" He added challengingly.

Kanda and Seraphina cracked identical smiles at this before Kanda replied icily with "Gladly." He lunged towards the hulk of metal and shaking man before being tugged back by Allen and Sarra.

"I understand your anger," Allen started

"But you can't hurt the host of this party," Sarra continued

"No matter how much he deserves it." Allen finished, glancing towards the sobbing man.

Kanda was about to argue when the robot successfully crunched its way through the ceiling, forcing large chunks of debris to rain down on the ex-exorcists' heads. Kanda jumped back to shield his wife and son from the chunks of ceiling falling around them, while Krowley swiped his children up under his large frame. Alexandreina danced merrily around the chunky rain, excited with all the action.

Allen pulled Sarra back as the largest chunks of ceiling fell around the beast. He twirled her around and covered her in a shielding embrace that made her blush wildly. Timcampy flew over him, trying its best to shield him as well.

Komui managed to jump out of the way as the greater chunks of the ceiling crashed to the floor. He ran back to his hiding-place behind the doorway leading to the kitchen.

The metal robot swivelled its head around, assessing the surrounding area. Before anyone could react, the doors to a compartment in its centre swung open, revealing an arsenal of various anti-Akuma weapons as well as first aid supplies. Hands sprung from the surrounding area on its body and began pulling out various objects. One of the hands that grabbed a spool of gauze shook the material out and fashioned a lasso out of it.

"Get ready!" Lavi yelled out, jumping onto the table and whipping out a medium sized hammer he carried around for old times sake.

The machine started to hum, its giant arms progressing towards its targets. Kanda, patient as ever, lunged for the robots closest arm, hacking it straight off.

And so started the war between ex-exorcists and Komurin 6.5.

Lavi launched himself up onto one of the attacking arms, running up it to the beast itself. Mizuki grabbed a kitchen knife and started sparring with said arm to hold it still as Lavi hurdled towards the robot. Once he got close enough, he used all his momentum to drive his hammer into the fragile stitching of the mismatched metal. The resulting dent was impressive, but nothing like what he'd been used to when he had his innocence. He took another swing at it, but found his arm suspended in the air, held back by a thin strip of gauze that began winding itself down his arm.

"Gyah!" Lavi cried out, grabbing at the sticky sheet that was progressively taking over his arm.

"Lavi!" Allen called underneath the arm Lavi stood on. He'd dodged the attacking hands to land a solid punch on the robots underbelly. He too seemed to be disappointed with the results and before Lavi's outburst had been silently reminiscing about the times he could have taken it down with one blow. He now began climbing towards his friend, but turned his back on him when he heard a sudden whooshing closing in on him. He was given no time to react before he was pinned to the body of the giant with an enormous band-aid.

"Allen!" Sarra cried out, running towards her partner. A giant hand side swiped her, sending her flying into the wall on the other side of the room.

"Sarra!" Allen screamed, struggling against the sticky grip of the band-aid.

Sarra shook her head, taking a few steps forwards before leaning into the side of Krowley, who was still shielding his children, as she tried to make the world stop spinning.

Allen blew a sigh of relief when Sarra recovered from the blow, but continued to struggle against his bonds when he noticed Lavi being further consumed by the thin white strips.

"Hold on Lavi!" Mizuki cried as she pierced the hand she had been struggling with through, effectively pinning it to the table. She then began her assent to save her useless boyfriend.

"Krowley! Get the kids out of here! I've been itching for a good fight!" Alexandreina shrieked with delight. Krowley gave her one watery glance before sweeping up their children and bounding out the back door, Ves's wails of protest echoing behind them.

"You go too." Kanda growled to Seraphina. He was battling three hands, two of which where holding big metal syringes, and one carrying what looked to be a giant pair of tweezers.

"Like hell am I going to stand back like a helpless little girl while you go off and fight with the team!" Seraphina snarled back at him. "How about you take Li back with Krowley and I'll fight with everyone!"

Kanda gave her a look of disbelief and malice. "You're PREGNANT!" He shouted, gesturing to her stomach before turning back to disarm one of the attacking hands.

"So?" Seraphina cried stubbornly. "You never seemed to care before whe-" She was cut off by Kandas lips crushing aggressively onto her own, making her gasp in annoyed surprise.

"Don't you dare say I don't care." Kanda growled furiously. "Now you take the only three people I care for in this world and get to safety." He then gave his dumb-struck wife a good shove towards the back door and turned back to the remaining two hands.

"Kanda and Seraphina sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N- Gyahh! Alexandreina dodged a dislodged hand that had flown towards her from Kanda's seething grip.

"Hey now, you two, play fair." Mizuki chuckled as she attempted to pry the bandages off Lavi's writhing form.

Alexandreina stuck out her tongue to the scowling man and continued her merry way of destruction, flinging a pair of heavy pliers one of the hands had dropped into the opening in the robots front. Steam began pouring out of the hole accompanied by a metal grating sound, suggesting she had hit some of the giants' inner workings. The giants head began to swivel around erratically and its hands became more aggressive, several more sprouting out of its body.

"Great work, Alexandreina! You just made it madder!" Mizuki shouted at her before she found herself clamped in a tight embrace by one of the larger hands.

By this time Lavi's entire body had become consumed by the bandages and the hand controlling them slowly began reeling him into the robots open middle.

"Something about this scenario seems oddly familiar." Komui pondered aloud as he watched the struggle. He quickly lost his train of thought when he turned to see his darling Lenalee locked in a struggle against a hand wielding a wooden bat. He rushed into the kitchen, grabbing a bucket of water before returning to find her progressively kicking the shit out of the now disarmed hand. Once she'd made sure the hand would not resurrect itself, she leapt into action to help the others. Komui chucked the water over the hand for good measure before following her, turning back to see the near dead hand erupt into fits of spastic electrical seizures, sparks flying wildly from it.

Mizuki was now expelling a high-pitched scream as she clawed at the hand that dragged her towards the open doors of the robot, who had already consumed the bandaged Lavi.

Sarra had fashioned a makeshift slingshot from two salad tongs and her own elastic band and began flinging cutlery and anything she could find around her at the creature, making sure to keep her aim away from the still pinned Allen.

Just as the robot pulled Mizukis' last struggling limb inside it a loud explosion caused the giant to teeter forward, spilling half its innards beneath it. Mizuki, now free from the hand leapt up and resumed a fighting stance, looking around for the source of the explosion while Lavi inched helplessly on the ground like a caterpillar.

Another explosion sent the creature to its knees, giving the whole landing a giant quake. A small head popped up behind one of the massive beings shoulders.

"Hey guys." A young voice said in a conversational tone.

"That voice." Mizuki gaped.

"Eas?" Sarra asked, her tone one of utter surprise.

"Sorry I'm late." The voice sounded again. The head bobbed into view as she reached the base of the robots neck.

Out of all the ex-exorcists, Eas looked like she had changed the most. Instead of the short pigtails she had been known to sport in her youth, Eas' hair now hung in an incredibly loose braid that reached to her stomach. She wore light blue overalls that still seemed large for her slight frame. What caught the most attention, however, was the alignment of dynamite sticks strapped on a leather sash slung around her shoulder. She had an unlit match in her mouth which she quickly removed as the robot came back to life, swatting its giant arms in her direction. She jumped off the monsters shoulder just as its arm came down to swat where she once stood, and in mid air chucked a glowing stick of dynamite onto the rim that connected the giants' body with its neck. As she landed, dusting herself off, the stick exploded with a deafening blast that scorched half the robots shoulder and left a gaping hole in its neck.

"Eas!" Mizuki repeated Sarra's words with the same incredulous tone.

"Hi!" She replied cheerfully, walking over to the older female.

"Your, your," Mizuki seemed stuck on her sentence so she stopped, swallowed, before shouting out, "Your so bad-ass now!"

Snorts of laughter came from a number of the girls as Eas gave the girl an awkward hug, trying to keep the dynamite from pressing into Mizuki's nearly bare skin. The girl still seemed to like to flaunt what she had and Eas looked especially pleased that her friend had changed so little since the last time they'd seen each-other so long ago.

"What have you all been up to?" Eas asked curiously, looking around at the faces of her friends.

"Oh, nothing much, Seraphina's got a kid with Kanda, I know, ridiculous. Alexandreina has two with Krowley, Sarra and Allen still can't get their relationship figured out yet and Lavi and I have been wreaking havoc like usual. Oh and Komui created another Komurin as the entertainment for the night. From the looks of things he meant it to be some kind of piñata." Mizuki joked.

Eas's face gaped, her jaw going slack. As she reassembled herself, the first words she could think to say were "So Kanda and Seraphina can actually raise children."

Mizuki burst into laughter, patting Eas repeatedly on the shoulder, though now she was quite taller then she used to be, reaching now to Mizuki's chin so the pat was much more level then she had been used to. "At least you're still the same Eas on the inside. With that new look I almost didn't believe you were the same snotty nosed brat we all loved!" Eas's smile melted into a playful scowl and brushed Mizuki's hand away before giving way to a slow chuckle.

"I'd hate to break up the party," Kanda interjected. "But we still have unfinished business to attend to. Although if you two want to continue your tearful reunion outside, I can finish up in here."

"As cheerful as ever, I see." Eas laughed, taking out another two dynamite sticks before turning back to their opponent.

As the remaining members of the team lurched forwards to take on the teetering robot, a wretched scream made them jump back and turn to the kitchen, where Lenalee was running with a long green tube trailing after her and a wailing Komui, who kept grabbing at her loose sleeves.

"When I told you it's weakness I meant for you to only use it to protect yourself, not kill it!" Komui wailed, lunging over her to try to grasp onto the nozzle she held in her hand.

"Get off me, brother!" She demanded, shaking the wailing mass off her arm before turning the nozzle of the garden hose to a jet spray. "I'm finishing this before it wrecks any more of the house!" She made a motion for everyone to clear her path, and they just managed to jump back before a high velocity rush of water torpedoed into the robots now cavernous middle. For a few seconds nothing seemed to happen, and the massive robot reached one of its enormous arms out to grab Lenalee. As the hand reached her though, the massive being gave a sudden shudder and sparks began spewing from its extensions. Black fumes billowing from its center competed with the spray until even the choking smoke was drowned by the intense volume of water.

As the seizures grew worse the machine slowly fell back into a kneeling position before smacking into the hardwood flooring with a hard thud that resonated throughout the entire house. Lenalee slowed the spray of the pressurized hose as the convulsing machine slowly became silent.

A hushed reached over the group of friends until Sarra's scream shattered the silence. The group was put back on high alert as Sarra rushed over to the mechanical being.

"Allen!" She gasped, trying to wrench her hands under the heavy mettle. "Allen can you hear me?"

The others slowly brought forth the image of Allen stuck to the breast plating of the robot, glued there by an oversized band-aid. They all then leapt into action, with the exception of Kanda who merely shrugged and walked off to rejoin his wife and kid in the backyard. The rest of the group began struggling to push up the heavy machine from the flooded floor.

As Sarra began sobbing hysterically, no longer able to put any more power into raising the dead weight of the machine, a worried voice sounded from the narrow hallway behind the being.

"Sarra?" Allen climbed over the leg of the massive robot, concern etched over his face. "Hey, what's wrong? It's just a robot; Komui can make another if you are that attached."

Mizuki smacked her for-head while Lenalee sighed with relief. Sarra, however, only turned into an even more hysterical mess, babbling incoherently before rushing to embrace the boy. He chuckled nervously and stroked her hair to try to calm her down.

"I, I" She sobbed, still only half coherent. Allen shushed her reassuringly and gave her a loving peck on the check. Finally she managed to reassert herself, tugging her blue blouse a little before looking into his eyes with her watery own and proclaiming; "I love you."

Allen looked at her in surprise. Silence fell over the group as he digested her words.

To help fill the awkward silence, Mizuki began clapping, slowly. "Congratulations! Only took you seven and a half years to finally tell him!" She cheered, receiving a piercing glare from the now tomato red Sarra.

While Mizuki was busy laughing at her own comment, Allen leaned down and whispered his response in Sarra's ear. "I love you, too." The colour of Sarra's face could be matched with a dark red cherry for how deep her blush was.

"But I don't understand." Lenalee burst the love bubble as she puzzled over the previous events. "How did you get behind Komurin? Weren't you strapped to it by that band-aid?"

Allen gave a devilish smile that suggested he had his ways, but merely shrugged and responded that the Band-aid lost its hold when the water drenched them and he quickly slid behind the robot as it tumbled forwards.

"My question," Mizuki pondered, " Is why was Komurin attacking us in the first place? It seemed almost like its main directive was to apprehend us, not kill us."

"I can answer that." Komui whispered, his breathing hitched. He was positioned awkwardly, embracing the side of the giant robots head, tears still streaming down his face. "Komurin 6.5 woke because there were so many ex-exorcists gathered. It thought you all needed your innocence fixed, seeing as its presence is no longer within you all."

"How the hell was it expecting to fix us?" Mizuki asked, freaked out by that train of thought.

"Mizukiiii" A muffled voice wailed near their feet. Mizuki looked down to see a tightly wrapped Lavi inching himself over to her.

"Oh, Lavi, I forgot all about you." Mizuki mused, watching the horror struck look on the bookman's face. She giggled and knelt down, planting a ripe kiss on his mouth before untying his binds.

So how did you know about this shindig, anyways, Eas?" Alexandreina queried as she straightened up from her crouch beside the hunk of metal formerly known as Komurin 6.5.

"Lets just say word travels fast when Komui is involved in preparations." Eas winked. "I'm sorry I haven't exactly kept in touch since I left after the last Akuma War, I hoped you'd understand, what with the issue with Tyki, I just couldn't stand going back to the order as I was."

"We understand." Lenalee smiled, moving to give Eas a warm embrace.

"That war was tough on all of us, and having to watch as your best friend got killed by your own innocence, well, let's just say no one blamed you for abandoning the order." Alexandreina continued. "Besides, it looks like it's done you well, where did you learn all those kick ass moves? You looked like a nutcase up on Komurin!"

Eas belted out a short laugh before giving a large shrug. "When I met back up with all my mining buddies, I learned a lot, like my attraction to explosives. I'm now one of the first women to become an explosives technician! Of course, it's not exactly fair since my references are so solid. Did you know you can do basically whatever you want when you have the government eternally in your debt?"

The group shuddered with laughter, giving Eas familiar slaps on the back. Soon the others came in to rejoin the group. The newcomer was introduced to all the children and became reacquainted with everyone's lives.

Kanda had chosen to become a teacher of the sword, which everyone found quite amusing, as the thought of Kanda being a teacher of any kind, let alone one he could channel his anger through his sword with was ridiculous. Seraphina had taken up writing in her spare time and even had a fictional book about a group of demon hunters that save the world from the devil with the use of holy weapons being published.

Sara explained that she had become a professional chef and co-owned a restaurant with the old orders chef Jerry. Allen had put his talents at Piano to good use and became a pianist, playing at various venues around Great Britain. All in all, everyone had found a calling outside their previous employment, and had moved on quite well. They still admitted to the occasional nightmare, or nervous twitch, which none of them really thought would ever leave them, anyways.

The group spent the evening both cleaning up what they could of the colossal mess the great robot had created, and catching up on everyone's life stories. The conversations lasted well into the next day before people started to peel off, exclaiming they had to continue on their way and that they would have to have another get together as soon as everyone was available again.

The group set off on their own paths, but would always keep a firm tie to the rest of the exorcist family, knowing they would never really be apart.

So the next chapter of their journeys began.

* * *

I know, I know, classic lame end line but I was tired and wanted ever so badly to wrap it up and I couldn't think of anything cooler except "The End" so yeah, don't hate me!

I hope I did the characters enough justice and fluff in the end, I really did enjoy creating this journey, and I am so stoked that I actually finished one. I'd like to thank everyone that stuck with it to the very end and put up with all my stupid lateness and such. I really do hope you enjoyed this chapter and had fun reading the story!

You are all amazing and I am so sad to have to end this, though it is a possibility that I may submit some oneshots revolving around the characters, that is if there is any interest in that, and if I have the time. I've been trying to finish another one of my fics, Mulan Momo, so that will now be my main priority.

Thanks again everyone!

~Fantasy Shadows


End file.
